The benefits of allowing your child to fail

As adults, we have become so focused on recognising people’s achievements and seeing them only when they reach success that we often neglect to recognise or acknowledge what has led to that very outcome. In fact, we seldom take the time to understand how long or how many attempts may have been made before success was achieved.

Can you see the pattern in you?

Does it resonate with you? Can you see that the patterns that we take every day in our personal life, at work also plays out in the way that we may guide or lead our children?

Pause for a moment, you owe it to yourself to at least consider the impact this has had on you as an adult and how this has shaped your thoughts, your action and perhaps even the way in which you perceived your success.

Lessons to move forward by embracing failure

With years in the corporate and business world, I have observed myself, others around me, and how we engage as a team, as managers, and as leaders. We can all adopt a slight variation to the way in which we measure success and how we embrace failure.

When I look back at my parenting days, I know I had many lessons and yes hindsight is wonderful, but let’s all draw a line in the sand and move forward.

When we have the opportunity to pause, reflect and step forward, what choices will we make?

Will we as parents recognise that the journey itself, including failings, are what will ultimately allow us to strengthen, to learn and then to get back on our feet and try again so we can achieve success, or will we allow ourselves to repeat patterns that bring our children to the same place we stand now, fearing failure and avoiding taking risks for the very fear of failing again?

Lessons from a child

At the age of 15 one of my children kindly declined me reviewing a speech that was to be heard by their peers, teachers, and other parents because they wanted to know that no matter what the outcome was, it was theirs to learn from.

Whilst at the time I truly had to pause to understand what they had just shared with me, it was a lesson that I took away and allowed it to play out in my career. It has been the way that I have mentored, coached, and showed others, sharing the benefits that come with it. I have heard all of my staff, mentees, and coachees (including CEO’s and C Suite) say “You are tough, but you are fair”. The way that I engage is to show others how they can step up, lead, navigate through crisis, find solutions and most importantly take ownership.

If we step in and take control, no matter if it is for a child, a staff, a friend, we take away their opportunity to shine. Worse still we take away their opportunity to learn from what steps they have taken, and then to reflect and try again.

My gift is knowledge through a diverse background – one I know very few people have taken so I take all of my lived experiences in life and in my career and share these in the Leadership and Mentorship Programs that I run.

Leadership begins at a young age

I now have expanded my commitment to sharing all that I know with our future generation. We have developed 4 Programs under the Banner of “Raise the Baseline” for our future generation starting at the age of 12 through to aspiring young entrepreneurs.

Gifting knowledge and creating an environment that allows young children and young adults to develop, grow and understand the values that come through failure enables them to become leaders of tomorrow today.

Developing skills that strengthen them, and bring them confidence when they need it most will ensure that they step forward in life, just that little bit better than if they were not exposed to the discussions. We want them to develop who they are and who they want to be.

Give a gift that lasts for life

If you want to gift your child, niece, nephew or grandchild anything, let it be the gift of knowledge by someone who might just have the voice that they will listen to.

Want to know more?

Subscribe, register your interest and that of your Young Person now. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to really help them bring about the change that they want for themselves.