Progress, not perfection

It is ok for your kids to make mistakes. I think we all, one time or another, are guilty of expecting perfection from them when we should be looking for progress. When I was new to homeschool, I caught myself doing this and I knew I needed to change my thinking. Now, when I teach my children, I remind them that I’m looking for progress, not perfection. What a weight that comes off of their shoulders when we help take away that fear and anxiety of “what happens if I don’t do this right”. How many of you have seen a child cry because they got something wrong, or they didn’t get a perfect score on something? What kind of pressure are we putting on our children for them to feel this way? Of course we want to encourage our children to do well, but not at their mental or emotional expense.

When my husband was in high school, he played football, and he was quite good at it. His dad did not make it to many of his games, but when he did, my husband would play his hardest to impress his father. After his game was finished, hoping to hear “well done son”, he would be met with hard criticism, and disapproval from his dad. At that time, it left him feeling insignificant, worthless, and not good enough. Can you relate to something similar in your life? Can your kids relate?

Now, lets take a look at ourselves and how we make our kids feel when we are teaching them. Are building them up and allowing them room to make a mistake? Or are we condemning every error and fault or theirs? How can we encourage our kids to take risks and try something new if we have instilled a fear in them of “what happens if I do it wrong” or “what happens if I fail”? It’s hard to take a good look at ourselves to see if we are guilty of expecting perfection, but its necessary.

Mistakes are opportunities to try again, to do it better, or do it differently. The greatest successors in life did not get to where they are without mistakes and failures along the way. Extend grace to your kids and encourage them to try their hardest even if it ends up in a mistake!