The articles in this section often reference how you interview for "grit" and how to hire people who can learn from failure. but this fascinating article takes it back a step.
How do you build grit in children?
"The most valuable thing that parents can do to help their children develop character—may be to do nothing. To back off a bit. To let our children face some adversity on their own, to fall down and not be helped back up."
"What matters most in a child's development ... is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years of life. What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence. Economists refer to these as noncognitive skills, psychologists call them personality traits, and the rest of us often think of them as character"
This is one of the life lessons I look to teach the girls on my HS basketball team. Grit is a great word that describes the ability to get knocked off the horse and get right back in the saddle. It's the ability to deal with adversity, disappointment, setbacks, and all the other traits the author mentions. Years from now my girls will never remember the actual experience of playing basketball = what they will remember is how much this HS sport - their coach - and their teammates taught them about how to deal with all the things life keeps throwing at you and testing your grit.
Barry
Via
Bob Corlett