Friday, July 3, 2015

I'm Glad My Daughter Didn't Pass

My beautiful daughter took a test at karate for her next belt level. Although she knew it was coming, she forgot it was today.  She's 10-years-old and on summer break from school.  I didn't want to nag her about it because then she gets stressed.  I get it. However, that also means she has had plenty of opportunity to study for this test.  Because it was an intermediate level test, she found out her results right away...she didn't pass.

I wasn't sure how she would respond to the results, but I can tell you, this mama was proud.  She was a trooper and didn't try to lay the blame on anyone else.  She accepted responsibility for her results...because I believe she knew she could have done better.  The funny thing is she did amazingly well on the techniques she did.  The issue was that she would forget one technique and then get stuck. I completely know the feeling!  It took me 3 times to pass my Brown 2 test, so I can identify with her feelings of frustration right now.

It's not that I want her to be frustrated or sad, but I'm glad she didn't pass.  It gives her opportunity to fail forward...to learn from her experience.  This is very different from us retaining her in 2nd grade because she was struggling.  That was more due to being young and needing to strengthen some skills (which she is excited to be doing through some brain training at Learning Curve, Inc.--but more on that another time).  This is lack of preparation on her part.  She didn't study as much as she should have or could have.

She hit a bit of a bump, and now we're moving forward.  I'll stay right beside her and help her along the way, but this bit of the journey is hers.  I hope and pray that she uses it as a launching pad and a learning place.  I really believe we see much more opportunity to learn when life's situations challenge us than when we are just coasting.

 UL Italian Turquoise


What situation has helped you to fail forward?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.  I'm glad you stopped by.


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