As a rah-rah parent I am my child's biggest cheerleader, praising, encouraging, complimenting. It used to be fashionable designed to build self esteem, we were told.
That was so last year.
Now we have moved on from the world where every child wins a ribbon in the sports carnival because we don't want to crush little spirits.
Now the thought is that if every little action is praised children will never learn what it feels like when you achieve something really big and really important after really, really working hard at it.
To truly understand how good it is to succeed you need to know what failure feels like.
The harder it is to get to the top, the more of an achievement it is when you finally get there.
I saw that in this young lady at the Milton State School Fair on the Green today.
She almost but not quite made it to the top of the rock climbing wall just before this pic was taken but lost her grip and down she went.
But near enough wasn't good enough. Once at the bottom she grabbed on and started again this time scaling the whole wall. That is something worth cheering about. Rah-Rah.
I agree it's hard to get the balance between being positive and building self esteem and encouraging them to do things for themselves and to keep pushing themselves. (stopping by from Country Kids!)
ReplyDeleteLovely post.
ReplyDeleteRah Rah indeed! As a teacher we have an almost non-competitive sports day. Ish. We have a carousel of activities which each class rotates around, and they do compete in teams but the score isn't really recorded.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, there need to be winners for children to develop a sense of self-esteem, self-worth and the go-get'em attitude they need in life to achieve.
Popped over via Country Kids
yes I feel it has gone too far these days. But then it sums up the whole attitude of not telling them off, not correcting them, and making them feel like only they are important. No wonder they find it hard to adapt to a working environment
ReplyDeleteAnother great photo. I agree with you. Without failure children don't know that success takes time and effort to achieve.
ReplyDelete(Also visiting from Country Kids)
Your philosophy is one I agree with all the way. I love her concentration and as you say you can't win them all! Thank you for linking up to Country Kids.
ReplyDelete