Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill
We learn through doing. From our earliest days learning to walk, we fell a lot. We learned to write by first scribbling, then drawing shapes, then letters . . . our learning required trying, experiencing, and improving. We give young students blocks to count . . . mistakes are made, we start again, and we learn.
With the gift of youth comes the safeguards for experiential learning – parents, teachers, and coaches are here to support and encourage children through the learning process. The enthusiasm of youth, with the guidance of loving adults, teaches students that failures are not the end but only a step in the learning journey.
As adults, we can’t safeguard our students from failure. Sure, we protect them from unsafe or unhealthy failures, but most failures in youth are learning opportunities. We must guide students on their path, but not do the work for them. Failures are natural and necessary for future conditioning and success.