Teaching Your Child to Overcome Obstacles

Your child will encounter obstacles – this is a fact and no matter how much we as parents try to protect our children, there will always be some hurdle or other to challenge them. This is of course, perfectly normal and as it should be. Without challenges in life, children would not learn any coping mechanisms – those special skills we all develop as we grow.

This girl’s prep school in Surrey provides plenty of learning opportunities for children which challenge and encourage personal growth. As a parent, it’s important that we also provide these opportunities.

Start early

You can begin teaching your child to overcome obstacles as soon as they’re crawling!. Literally the first obstacles a child faces, are physical ones. Learning to walk, talk, run, jump and climb are huge challenges for little children and as parents, it’s vital that we give children the freedom to explore and occasionally fall in the pursuit of independence.

This comes naturally to many parents but not to all. Whilst it’s important to be watchful of your child’s safety, it’s also important to know when to intervene.

If your child falls, they will instinctively look to you for your reaction. If you know it wasn’t a bad fall and there’s no damage, don’t fuss. Simply say “whoops…try again” or similar and your child will grasp that there’s nothing to fear.

As children grow

As your child grows and challenges become more complex, it’s tempting to interfere. Obstacles come in many forms as children grow – friendships, skills, learning – they’re all challenging.

Whilst it’s important to support your child, it’s also important that they are given the tools to manage things themselves where possible.

If at first you don’t succeed…

We all know the old adage about trying again, but sometimes we need to try more than once or twice. Let your child know that trying again is as far from failing as winning. In trying again, we learn more and gain skills which will help us succeed next time.

Thanks for reading xxx