Helping children to understand that learning can be challenging!
As teachers, we have seen so often how children can begin to compare themselves to others and this can impact their self-esteem. They can begin to notice that some children are reading a higher reading book or solving more difficult maths questions. For some children this can make them start to believe that they are not good at things. We have found over the years that talking to children about this can really help to empower them.
Talk to your child about how when we learn new things it can be hard. We can find things hard to understand, hard to do and they can be a struggle. Talk to them about the things that they can do now that they have learnt to do – walk, talk, run, swim, ride a bike etc. They can do these things because they have gradually learnt to do them through trying and practise – the more they do them the better they get. We want children to learn that it is effort and resilience that will help them to learn, and not just that some people can do this more easily than others. If we help them to understand this then we will motivate them to try and therefore to achieve. They will feel that it is in their power to improve and learn and something that is predestined.
