4 Ways to Build Perseverance in Your Child

Teaching kids to cope when things get tough is a vital life skill. Perseverance helps children to mature into emotionally-healthy, responsible adults.

This “can-do” attitude helps them respond maturely to life’s disappointments, setbacks and challenges.

Here are four great ways to nurture a growth mindset in your child by teaching perseverance skills.  

1. Set realistic, short-term goals

Learning how to set and achieve short-term goals shows children how effort leads to reward (i.e. earning higher grades, mastering a new skill, learning a new sport, etc.). 

Short-term goals are much more concrete than long-term goals because they have a time limit attached to them and require frequent feedback.  

2. Praise effort

Praising your child’s effort rather than their ability is a fantastic way to build perseverance and persistence. By reminding them that ability can change over time, you’re showing them how to face and overcome any hurdle. 

Children who are encouraged for effort are motivated to attempt new tasks regardless of the outcome and are eager to take on challenges.  

3. Praise your child sincerely

Children are very perceptive. They can easily spot the difference between empty compliments and sincere praise.

Insincere praise can create problems. When children accomplish tasks easily and are complimented for it, they get the message that minimal effort is all that’s required. 

To instil perseverance, raise your expectations so your child is challenged to meet them.  

4. Point out their strengths

When your child faces failure, remind them of their strengths. 

First, acknowledge the setback by saying, “I understand why you’re upset. That must be really disappointing.”

Then, help them move forward by identifying strengths they can use the next time they’re in the situation. 

Reframe a negative situation into a positive one by saying things like, “I can see how much your math skills are improving” or “Your ball-passing skills are getting so much better.” 

Identifying their effort and improvement over time helps your child to use that knowledge during a difficult situation.