We should let our children try and fail – they’ll thank us in the long run

We all want our children to succeed and be the best at everything at school, in sport and in all sorts of other activities.

To want the best for our offspring in all aspects of life is only natural and while not everyone is good at everything, there are of course those youngsters who just seem to excel, no matter what it is they do. I remember when I was at school, even from quite a young age, there were those kids who just seemed to be good at whatever they did, be it in lessons, in various sports, in music and more.

But the majority of us as kids aren’t super heroes at everything we try (unless we are playing superheroes of course!), much as we’d like to be, so we have to learn to deal with that. And sometimes we have to learn the hard way, by maybe not being picked for a team, not scoring well in a test or exam, or away from the school environment perhaps not being able to fix something on a bike or a toy or losing at a game.

And it’s just the same for the very youngest of children as it is for older ones. We learn through trial and error, success and failure, no matter what we are doing and at no age is this more apparent than during our formative years. We explore, we ask questions, we try pretty much anything and everything all in the daily process of learning, developing and shaping our character, personality and individuality.

These days parents are often overprotective and go to great lengths to ensure their children, of whatever age, avoid failure. But is this not undermining the development of an independent character that has the strength and wherewithal to stand up to whatever setbacks, disappointments and mistakes they may come up against in life?

No-one intends to teach their children to be fearful of failure, but we do it more and more these days. We therefore need to let them take more risks, to try things from the off and to encourage them if and when they fail. They’ll be stronger for it and more confident, competent and resourceful later in life.