You know when you get that slight tickle in the back of your throat and you’re certain it’s the precursor to a long sinus/cold/allergy situation? I get that same feeling when a stressful week for the kids is on the horizon, except there’s no tickle, it’s more like the sharp, piercing pain from stepping on stray legos.
There’s a good chance every week is taxing and cumbersome when you’re a teenager these days, so I make it a routine to cross my fingers and pray for success…or failure…both foster growth, one just has more tears.
I rejuvenated this post: Paper airplanes taught my kids to fail from a few years ago on how my kids mastered failure.
Paper airplanes taught my kids to fail
The folding. The flying. The fixing.
After each failed flight I taught them to tweak it. Adjust it. Change it.
To try again.
They used paper clips, tape, rubber bands, light paper, heavy paper, newspaper, tissue paper.
The INTENTION was to make the plane fly.
If it didn’t work, they made another plane.
They learned there’s no guarantee for success.
Sure it was small. But they tested, they measured.
They learned what each fold was for and why they made it.
No score was being kept.
They learned what uncertainty and failure felt like and danced with it.
They were invested in finding the flight.
They learned the worst that could happen was it wouldn’t work.
They still tweaked and fixed.
They learned when you care enough you will fail and fail and fail again.
It’s their airplane. Their flight. Their crash. Their landing.
But they were curious and hungry.
Let them fold. Let them fail.
Let them create.
After all…the creative mind who invented the ship also invented the shipwreck.
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