julielani
Subject: high expectations
Question: I have a 11 year old daughter who is quite precocious. She has an older sister (
15) to emulate. She is very smart, very athletic but she gives up easily. She has
high expectations and if it does not go the way she wants, she just stops.
How
can I help her ? What should I do or say ? Thanks
Answer: Julielani:
I have to assume you are talking about the 11 year old. Often children who have perfectionism standards become disheartened when things don’t go the way they want them to and you will have a challenge in getting her to see things differently.
I strongly suggest lots of positive reinforcement. If you can coach her through one of these situations and find something to reinforce her with, something positive, something she wants really bad then probably you can get her to tread new territory.
Another way of looking at this is the more things she tries out the more experiences she has in the process.
On a positive note, if this is the only challenge you have with her, things are going really well!
M Kay Keller