"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer".
Albert Einstein
As Albert Einstein highlights, it's often not the smarts that makes a difference in an individual's success, it's his perseverance. Perseverance - the steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state - especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement - is something we can model for our children, as well as deliberately build into their lives.
Engaging with resources, like those we recommend at Thinking To Learn, can create the platform for practice with problem-solving as well as perseverance in the face of challenging academic work. Children lean on us to supply either the approach or the answer when faced with new learning or a new problem. Hold firm in requiring your students to do the mental weight lifting on their own, while you acknowledge the effort. Coach them toward the possibilities, the strategies, or work one activity together, analyzing different approaches. Then, turn them loose. I've found that requiring a certain amount of effort, measured either in attempts or time, is a way to overcome easy quitting. Keep a child in the game for long enough, coach and suggest possibilities, and then see the light bulb go off and the confidence build, when she gets to the end, with either the right answer or one that is close. The second attempt should not be met with as much resistance. Build these experiences over time to erase the "I can't do these", "I'm no good at ....", "I don't know how" excuses.
Not able to solve the entire problem independently? Great! This is where the learning is. It is never too soon to teach your children that failure helps us grow more than instant success. How important this lesson is for bright children, who may need practice with facing challenging work, and with understanding that failure is an event, not a person.
Parents can model their perseverance to their children by talking about challenging situations that they are working through. Talk about the goals, the worthiness of the goal, the benefits of sticking it out, and be sure to reflect back on times in your life when you achieved far more than you thought you could because you didn't quit in the face of adversity. Find other adults, leaders and historical figures like Einstein and Edison - tremendous examples of persevering individuals who achieved amazing things. Make their biographies required reading.
