Inexperience with failure

Dear Parents,

An interesting topic was brought up at the university new student orientation.  Admissions at good universities have gotten very competitive, and as a result, most of the student body is made up of students who were the top academic performers in their high schools.  Many of these students have been straight A students throughout their high school careers, and many of them have little or no experience with failure.  Failing a test, struggling to pull up a grade, these concepts are foreign to some of these high performing students.  As a result, there is sometimes an enormous amount of stress when they all come together in a university setting, because they aren't the "smartest" anymore.

I think this is an interesting concept to discuss with people of privilege.  Being exposed to some adversity, and having to work to overcome it is an important life lesson.  It is important for our kids to learn to persevere even when things don't seem to be going in their favor.  Sports are a great venue for this lesson, because inevitably you win some and you loose some.  Even when our kids perform poorly on a test or an assignment, it can be a great learning opportunity for them to persevere, practice, and to not let "failure" define them or stop them. 

To Your Family,

Jane Cabrera
The Parent Success Coach