Letting Kids Learn From Mistakes

As a parent it can be hard to let our kids make their own mistakes. We know better, we know how to fix it, so why wouldn't we just intervene, avoid the mistake and move along mess-free? But if we don't let our kids make mistakes then we are taking away an opportunity for them to learn. It may seem easier in the moment to just do it or fix it for them but in the long run we are shortcutting their understanding of the world.

Recently our sons were making birthday cards for their campground friends and were creatively cutting out pop-up cakes and drawing corgis for the birthday cards. But when it came time to write "Happy Birthday" on the front of the card one of our sons wrote the letter p backwards so they looked like nines. If I had been quicker and paying closer attention I could have caught him before making this mistake and reminded him how to properly write a p. But I didn't. He was disappointed and upset when he realized his mistake.

But then we talked about how to fix it. We talked about practicing writing the words on a draft piece of paper first. We discussed a solution that would fix the mistake and preserve the hard work of the pop-up cake inside the birthday card.

And so he practiced writing in his neatest writing and then wrote his final draft neatly and with all letters properly oriented. He glued the new cover on top of the original card.

And because he made a mistake he learned far more than if I had stopped him and corrected his work in the first place. He learned about making a first draft and practicing before working on the final product. He learned about how to creatively fix a piece of art, something real artists do all the time. He learned which direction the letter p faces. And most importantly he learned that he is capable of coming up with a solution when he intitally makes a mistake. He learned that he can fail the first time, try again and be successful.