Anonymous wrote:Ha! For one of my kids, if I push her to do something, she typically will do the opposite. All her motivation to do something exits her body. What she needs to hear is "you have come so far, you are just fine no matter what you achieve, I am so proud of you."
This is in part because she is absolutely brilliant and so talented, and when somebody sees this, they say things like "you have so much potential, you can go so far, if you work hard someday you will become something great." That is a lot of pressure and can get overwhelming for her. From me, her mom, she needs something different.
Anonymous wrote:Ha! For one of my kids, if I push her to do something, she typically will do the opposite. All her motivation to do something exits her body. What she needs to hear is "you have come so far, you are just fine no matter what you achieve, I am so proud of you."
This is in part because she is absolutely brilliant and so talented, and when somebody sees this, they say things like "you have so much potential, you can go so far, if you work hard someday you will become something great." That is a lot of pressure and can get overwhelming for her. From me, her mom, she needs something different.
Anonymous wrote:It is WAY more complicated than that. You don't push. You build internal motivation. And that is so much harder than "pushing." It includes letting them fail. Often. Which I think is anathema in the "push your kid" crowd.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It is WAY more complicated than that. You don't push. You build internal motivation. And that is so much harder than "pushing." It includes letting them fail. Often. Which I think is anathema in the "push your kid" crowd.
+1. This.
Anonymous wrote:It is WAY more complicated than that. You don't push. You build internal motivation. And that is so much harder than "pushing." It includes letting them fail. Often. Which I think is anathema in the "push your kid" crowd.
Anonymous wrote:
I'll amend OP's point by adding: "tailored to their potential."
I have a child with disabilities, and another child who is highly functional, and I am keenly aware of how much each of them can take on. There's no point pushing them beyond that, since they will start failing massively and hate you for it. For each of your children, you have to find the sweet spot of satisfaction and achievement within the limits of their capabilities and tolerance to stress.