Letting Your Kids Fail

Do you cringe at the thought of letting your kids fail?
As much as I fight being a helicopter mom and rescuing our kids  when they forget something or mess up, I know letting them fail is very important.

Take the other day, our son was making cookies.  He was bored and likes to bake (though he won't admit it).  I left him to himself to read and figure out the recipe.  We have baked enough together that he should know what to do.  Our daughter came in and saw what he doing and started questioning him.  He told her to back off and when she didn't I stepped in.  I told her "Let him do it on his own.  If he makes a mistake then he'll learn from it."  This is very hard for her to step back and watch.  Alas, she did and he finished the cookies.  They came out flat and not the right texture, yet edible.  Dad and I ate them up (more to make him want to try again).

Since then he has bake two other batches of cookies all on his own without problems and without big sister watching over him.  He even made cookies for a fellowship we had and was SO excited that there were none let to bring home!

So, why let your kids fail?
Kids are going to fail.  We are going to fail
Hubby and I know that we'd much rather have our kids fail at the little things (even bigger things) while at home then get out into the world and fail and not know how to handle it.  Fail and give up.  At home the kids can mess up and receive grace and instruction on how to make it right.  They are encouraged to get back up and do it again and again if needed.

Also, important is to let them see us mess up/fail and how we handle that.  But the is another post. ♥