This week, with Beckie Whitehouse, we are talking about facing disappointment. As adults we often face disappointments in our lives and it is just the same for children, especially when they have put their all into a particular task and it has not quite worked out as they had planned.
Children who are better able to deal with disappointment are better able to interpret failure, have a stronger sense of personal achievement and are better able to bounce back when things go wrong in their lives.
As parents, we are a major contributor to the thinking styles of our child’s developing minds, and there are a few things we can do to help such as not showing our own disappointment. Showing your own emotions of disappointment could lead your child to feel that they are a failure. Try to turn your own disappointment into a positive such as “you didn’t get the mark you wanted this time but I know how hard you worked”.
Teach your child to help her think optimistically to ‘decatastrophize’ the situation – that is – help your child see that the bad event may not be as bad or will not have the adverse consequences imagined. Few things in life are as devastating as we fear, yet we blow them up in our minds.
Here are our three top tips:
- look at positive of a situation and turn it around.
- Reward the efforts rather than the end result.
- Separate the disappointments from your own
Has your child faced disappointment before? How did you help them deal with it?
Helen Neale
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, website editor and a qualified counsellor with experience of working with both children and adults.She is a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapists, with her own private practise. She also freelances with her local Mind organisation.Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, use those grey cells at the same time, and supplement her counselling income.KiddyCharts has reach of over 680k across socials and the site. The site works with big family brands to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. She is a specialist counsellor for neurodivergent individuals and brings this expertise to her resources and the site. She is also an ADHDer herself.KiddyCharts gives 51%+ profits to charities, focused on supporting mental health and a community in TanzaniaHelen has also worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!