Positive perseverance builder
4. Hang in there vs Give up
The third ingredient to the success attitude is positive perseverance. this determines whether a person has the strength to survive setbacks, challenges or problems. Many people have great ideas, but only those who persevere will see their ideas become reality. Parents and teachers need to not only help children develop tha mental and emotional discipline to persevere but also prepare them to become resilient.
In his 1997 UNICEF funded study, Resiliency: stories found in the Philippine Streets Dr. Cornelio Banaag defined resilience as the capacity to withstand, recover and even grow from negative experiences.
Resilience separates winners from losers. It is this trait that enables street children to triumph despite their poverty and lack of family and community support. So how do we give our own children this inner strength? how do we develop in them that positive perseverance?
There are two things that parents have to be aware of when teaching children to be persevering and resilient. The first is that children are growing up in a world of convenience that allows them to put in the least amount of effort into a task. Second, parents are spending less time with their children because of economic pressures or demands at work. To compensate, more parents are indulging their children, making the kids used to getting anything they want. It has become more important therefore to provide our children with opportunities to develop positive perseverance so that they will learn to keep going when the going gets tough.
There are simple ways to do this. One way is to teach children to wait for what they want. Expose them to small frustrations. Do not give them everything they ask for. This way, they will develop self discipline and learn the difference between wants and needs.
Allow children to pursue projects they are interested in whether it is to assemble a toy, take care of a pet or start a band. Taking responsibility for a project they are interested in and seeing it through is perseverance at work.
I remember one of the projects of my high school youth entrepreneurs. They wanted to make statement t shirt and worked hard to perfect their designs. They were supposed to sell them during a Go Negosyou Youth Summit so they got a printer to commit to their order.
One week before the delivery date, the printer backed out and returned their money. They panicked because they could not get another printer at such short notice. But instead of giving up, they manually ironed the design on each shirt to meet the deadline. Their shirts made it to the summit.
Teach children to hang in there when things don't go their way. Don't let them give up. As the saying goes, Success comes to those who hang on when others have let go.