I took my youngest 2 kids to the circus last night.
I have so many memories from my childhood that involve the circus- but I noticed something different on this little adventure. (An adventure filled with loud noise and really, really expensive popcorn.)
Most of the performers made mistakes.
They dropped what they were juggling. They lost their balance. They tripped. They forgot a step.
Maybe I noticed them more because I was sitting up close. Maybe I noticed them because of the wisdom that comes with age. But I saw them mess up.
Do you know what I didn't see?
I didn't see even a moment of quitting. Each person restarted that portion of their performance and did it again- doing it perfectly.
As we left the circus, that's the part I talked about the most with my kids. Those people made mistakes in front of a large audience. But they didn't cry or throw a fit or give up. They started again and they DID IT. And then everyone cheered for them. They messed up and people still cheered for them.
What if we focus on the 'redo' part of life a bit more with our children?
What if we make it a point to notice and point out the 'trying again' that we see in our children, ourselves, and in others?
I'm going to mess up. You're going to mess up. Our children are most definitely going to mess up.
But what happens next? And how can we best teach our children to try again after failure?
Maybe that starts with grace with ourselves. Because modeling the behavior will be what they see the most.
Go forth and make mistakes, parents.
And then show your kids how to stand back up again.
