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Julie Piazza-King, Director, Family Life Child Care Program, on The Importance of Learning to Fail

Although failure is a natural part of life; we often try to protect our children from experiencing failure in order to spare them pain, embarrassment or another unpleasant emotion. But, what if the secret to success is learning from our failure? Research has shown us that failure teaches valuable lessons, even for young children. Allowing children to experience failure teaches them how to face fear, obstacles and challenges. Failure creates a memorable emotional experience, which helps us to learn and retain the lessons that come from failing. When we teach children not to be afraid of failing, we teach them to persevere and live without regret. Read here to learn seven ways that failure can be one of our children's best teachers and a key strategy in fostering self esteem.