"Ten at-bats. Ten outs. For my 12-year-old son, each strikeout felt heavier than the last. Baseball is a game built on failure - even the pros fall short most of the time - but for a kid, that kind of slump can feel like the end of the world. After struggling through multiple hitless games, he slumped into the car, feeling frustrated and defeated, and muttered, "I'm just not good at this anymore.""
"Many parents would have responded the way our parents likely responded to us.: By saying something along the lines of, "You're doing fine. Don't worry about it. You'll get the next one." But instead of brushing off his frustration, I told him the truth: he hadn't been putting in the work at the plate. His mechanics were sloppy, and he hadn't spent much time practicing outside of games. I told him that if he wanted different results, he had to adjust his effort."
A 12-year-old experienced ten consecutive outs and felt frustrated, believing he was no longer good at baseball. A parent told him the truth: his mechanics were sloppy and he had not practiced enough, and that different results required adjusted effort. The parent views failure as a gap between current ability and goals that practice can bridge. Former teaching experience shows children labeled as not 'math kids' or 'good writers' often improved by using mistakes as teachable moments. Children do not need protection from failure; they need guidance to face failure and learn through deliberate practice and effort.
Read at Business Insider
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