Perseverance...

I have found that this is one of the skills lacking in many young people these days. Many kids and teens just don't have the patience to follow through on something that challenges them. I assume this could be partially a result of the instant gratification oriented society in which we live. Kids and teens don't often need to wait to get what they want. If they hear a song on the bus they can download it on their smart phones before the song even finishes playing. If they want to watch a movie, they can stream it from somewhere in a matter of minutes. I think it is important to think about how our young people are starting to expect everything to come quickly and easily and to consider how this is affecting their ability and willingness to persevere in matters that require their patience and effort to achieve success.

Some things that I do with students to encourage perseverance include the following:

• Activities such as word searches and/or crossword puzzles 
• Games that they may fail at to begin with but can learn to be successful after several tries (checkers, chess, solitaire, etc.)
• Sodoku and other number puzzles (starting with easier ones and working up to the more difficult ones)
• Mind booglers (which also foster critical thinking and problem solving skills)

These are all things you can do at home as well. Free downloads of word searches, crossword puzzles, sodoku and mind booglers can be found online. The key is to encourage effort. Don't let your child give up if they don't get it the first time or if it is taking longer for them to succeed than they would like. And, when they do succeed, praise them not for winning but for the effort they put forth that helped them succeed.