Learning From Mistakes Can Be A Very Good Thing

Mistakes.  They happen.  Nobody really likes them.  They can be discouraging.  But, they can also be a very good thing.  If we can admit them and learn from them and use them for change, the kind of change that encourages improvement.

I try not to expect my children to be perfect, because nobody really is perfect.  Instead, I would rather them be capable of learning from their mistakes.  Who really likes to be reminded of their mistakes?  Most people don't want to be told of or reminded of their mistakes.  Funny mistakes are a whole different story.  But, I'm talking about the mistakes we don't think are funny.

This morning was a frustrating school morning, that almost seemed overwhelmed with mistakes.  It wasn't really, but it just felt like it.  My 8-year-old doesn't like being told she made mistakes in her work, or that she needs to correct them and sometimes, such as with spelling, to write it correctly 5 times.  This morning was such a morning.  So, I talked to her about admitting the mistakes, learning from them and trying to do better the next time.  She wasn't the only one who had mistakes to correct today.  But, I think that the conversation (which was in more depth than I wrote here) that I had with her today, reached her heart.

I also had conversations with most of the children about how doing well in their schoolwork affects their adult lives.  Talked about doing your best, in a good time frame, how it relates to paying bills as an adult.  How learning to be responsible as a child helps you to be responsible as an adult.  How schoolwork really does have an importance.  You get the idea.  My oldest has already had conversations like this with me before.

That, in a nutshell, is how my morning went.  I don't know about you, but sometimes I'd like to sit down with a bit of chocolate after a morning like that.  So, I thought about making some cookies.  But, I have a pile of schoolwork to go through and I need to get some stuff ready for tomorrow.  Hmmm....oldest asked to make these cookies two weeks ago for a friend and made a big mistake....fortunately the mistake didn't affect the taste, but it was one of those funny mistakes that I caught in the making...literally.  After I caught it, she fixed it, but it wasn't until after the cookies were made, that I realized the same mistake was made in another part of the recipe.  Like I said, it didn't affect the taste, but it did affect how many cookies the recipe yielded.  SCORE!  She needs to learn from her mistake!!!!!  So, she is now in the kitchen, learning from her mistake and I get cookies from it!!!!

Mistakes.  They happen.  Nobody really likes them.  They can be discouraging.  But, they can also be a very good thing.  If we can admit them and learn from them and use them for change, the kind of change that encourages improvement.

And that, my friends, is how I'm choosing to see today as a time of teaching my children about learning from mistakes and getting my chocolate fix at the same time!  My oldest's future family will thank me.  And she might too.