An important part of Positive Discipline involves looking at mistakes as opportunities for learning. This is something I’ve personally struggled with because making mistakes can be triggering. I feel anxious and embarrassed and I just want to hide. I grew up subconsciously thinking that if I could just avoid trying anything too difficult, I could also avoid the feeling of embarrassment from not being able to do it. So if I couldn’t do it perfectly (or fairly close) right away, I just couldn’t do it.
Obviously that hasn’t worked out very well for me! Even getting to the point where I could take what I’ve learned and share with others on this larger scale has taken years of convincing myself, when others would’ve just started right away. I’ve had to take a step back and think about what that behaviour is teaching my children, though. If I won’t even try because I’m afraid it won’t work out, what are they learning? One very clear example of that sticks out in my mind. I was thankful I had just read a post about this topic a few weeks before it happened. [Read more…]
