Preschooler ABCs
I wanted to pass along two tips that I learned from attending "Dad School" in January and February.
Always Build Competence - it's tempting to "save time" by doing things for a little person. There's no greater time saver than up-skilling our kids.
The first ABC leads right into the second...
Always Build Confidence - little people have ZERO ability to differentiate between their actions and themselves. Poor performance, failure, losing... these are devastating to a little kid. Living in a highly competitive, athletic town, it is important for me to remember to protect my kids from environments that they can't handle.
If my goal is to build confidence, through competence, then it's all about trying. Backwards letters, messed up spelling, "breaking" the rules at simple games - I need to remind myself that the main goal is to support persistence and joy from effort.
I'll end with some ancient wisdom...
Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.