Practice

First I would like to welcome Kaylie and blessingsofmany to our blog!  Its so good to meet you!  I hope we can occassionally add a little to your day whether a smile or helpful fact.  Thank you for joining us! ...And - i never did welcome my dear friends Jen, Angela, Judy and Katie (who i met online through Jude's site), welcome to you too - its so nice to come here and see your lovely faces (some i just have to picture in my mind but still - lovely all the same. : ) )


This morning i have been thinking a lot about practicing.  With the older kids working everyday this week on their FIRST Lego League stuff to prepare for the State tournament it is at the forefront of my mind.  We have always taught our kids that not everything is easy in life and that you have to practice to get better, practice to get where you want to be in whatever your endeavour is.  And it does my heart good to see them do that, many times on their own.  But there are those moments too, when they drive me crazy, cause they completely forget.

Its really interesting to see which kind of things have them remembering to keep trying and which things do not.  Outdoor activities like riding a bike and climbing a tree keep them continually striving to do better, do fancier tricks (yikes!,) etc.  But activities like video games (argh!) can be one or the other.  I wonder if it is the competitiveness of the activity?  Though that may not even be right as those who get extremely frustrated about not doing well are just frustrated at themselves more than anything else. Its an interesting phenomenon in this house really.  Then, maybe, its that we limit their computer/video game time so much and not their other activities (as it should be) that they are not getting the same amount of time to keep practicing until you get it right.  I really don't think adding more game time is the answer.  Maybe taking more away? :  )

Our perfectionist is the worst, and he of course gets upset with almost anything he does not do well the first time (kinda like his mom - huh, who would have guessed!) Its hard to watch your child get so upset when you know its just a need to practice.  What i love about our kids though (well, there are many things but...) is that all of them (even the perfectionists in the crowd) do continue to try.  It saddens my heart to see so many kids these days just give up.  To hear them say, "i can't do it"  and then they walk away.  I have been known to stop a child and tell them " you know, you can do it, you just have to practice.  We tell our kids this same thing.  They were once where you are (or they are now) and we tell them keep trying.  It may not be easy but its worth working at if you want to do it well."  Ok, so some kids look at m,e say ok, and walk away, but some say ok, and i find out later they have tried again, and accomplished what they thought they could not do.  That is what we need to strive for with our children...all children really.  Teaching the need to try, to practice, to look at something and say, "i can do this if i really want to."