Persistence

One of the life skills we are cultivating at school is initiative. Children with iniative can persist, focus, and complete a task, even when frustrated. Our daily interactions with children help them develop positive attitudes about themselves and their potential. By choosing our words and actions carefully we help children persist at tasks even when things become challenging. Every day provides opportunities for us to recognize children for their persistence. Dylan was ready to wash his hands. For a three year old, that can be a challenging task, involving motor planning, sequenceing, fine motor skill, and concentration. Think of the number of steps: climb onto the stool, locate the soap, figure out how to turn on the water, ignore your reflection in the mirror, descide which water knob to try...and that is all before you've even gotten your hands wet! Research shows that children who are consistently recognized for persisting at a task are more likely to persist again in the future. By using descriptive phrases such as, "You've been working a long time" or in the case of Dylan at the sink, "You can do this" we help children develop persistence. Our talk becomes their self talk, which in turn becomes their reality.