When Your Child Makes Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. You know this, and your child needs to know it,
too. Mistakes are an important part of living and growing.
Mistakes are also an important part of learning. You can help your child
learn from mistakes by asking questions that help them think about their
behavior and its consequences, and questions that help them plan ahead.
Instead of asking:
* "How could you be so stupid?"
* "Don't you know anything?"
* "How could you have done that?"
* "What's the matter with you?"
* "What's wrong with you"
* "Why can't you do better than that?"
* "How could you be such a bad boy/girl?"
* "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
* "All the other kids can do it right. Why can't you?"
* "Why do you always mess up or get it wrong?"
Try asking:
* "What can you learn from that?"
* "How do you feel about that?"
* "Is that a good feeling?"
* "How can you do that differently next time?"
* "What else can you try?"
* "How can I help you?"
Be sure to say:
* "Don't worry everyone makes mistakes."
* "I make mistakes too."
* "Let's try that again."
* "We can learn from our mistakes."
