As a millennial, I really struggle with feeling shame about what is being written about my generation. Although, more than 90% of the time what is published about us are the flaws we have, they are not all that wrong. *going to hide now*. It’s embarrassing. Lazy. Disengaged. Entitled. These are the words that go on to describe us. As I read about my generation and raise my own daughter I can’t help but think of the correlations with natural herd behavior. Mares are incredibly courageous. They don’t always rescue their foals from situations. They give their foals a lot of freedom to fall down, bump their heads, to learn from herd behavior and only make corrections when absolutely necessary. When training a horse, the horses we never allow to fail or learn from mistakes never do just that, LEARN! Learning happens in the failure. Growth happens in the failure. It happens when you’re ready to give up and have exhausted all the options that you thought were possible. Failure and the feeling of wanting to give up are a wall, that when pushed through, are HUGELY beneficial to the one who perseveres.
One of the greatest factors in the success of a child is whether or not they have grit. Grit is defined as firmness of character, indomitable spirit. When we rescue right before the learning truly happens, we keep them from learning skills and characteristics that are necessary for life. When we rescue, we are telling them, “You’re right, you’re not capable. I definitely wouldn’t try if I were you.” Rescuing then, is one of the biggest insults to a generation. Let us fail. Let the next generation fail. But here is where you CAN rescue: when they fail, when they are ready to give up, rescue them by saying, “wow! You are persevering so well. Keep going, you’re doing great. Your success is in the persevering, don’t quit!”
Let’s come alongside one another to help a generation grow in grit and lifelong success through failing forward.
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