Winmore

When you see your child sulking after his team loses a game or pouting at the gift he just received, you instantly recognise it as clear disappointment. Parents hate to see their children weighed down by sadness and would go any length to relieve them of their distress. While disappointment is an undesirable emotion, it also plays a healthy and positive role in children’s intellectual, social and emotional development. It is important to help Your child handle disappointments in a postitive way.

Children will face a series of disappointments as part of their growing up – from not topping the class to not being accepted to the college of their choice. During times like these, you can be their biggest support system and teach them ways to bounce back so that they can cope better with future setbacks.

Choose to be happy

As parents, we might not always succeed in ensuring their happiness. When struck by setbacks, train them to look at the silver lining instead of just the end result. For example, if they are feeling down about not winning a game or a competition, ask them about their favorite moments. Once they realise that they enjoyed the process even though they didn’t win, they gradually will choose to be happy.

Empathise with them

It is important to make them feel that they are not alone. Start a conversation and allow them to open up about their experience. Relate a story about disappointments faced by you in your life. Tell them how you overcame that failure and what you learned from that experience. Most often, children are inspired by parents’ actions and try to emulate them.

Self-calming techniques

Learn about the various physical, verbal, visual and creative techniques of self-calming which you can hand over to your child. It could be running, jumping, listening to music or positive self-talk. This helps them resort to these strategies to lift them up.

Something they are good at

Sometimes disappointments are rooted in insecurity and self-doubt. Help them to pursue their dreams or an interest they are good at so they are motivated to do their best. Failure can be a blessing in disguise if it allows you to follow another path that leads to ultimate success.

Be prepared for next time

Once you help your child to overcome the sadness induced by disappointment, work with them and spend quality time to help them achieve the goal the next time. Analyse what went wrong and fix it. Assign smaller goals which lead them to bigger victory. Remind them about how they overcame the past disappointments and how they can do even better in the future. It is important to have a healthy approch introduced to help your child handle disappointments.

Disappointment = Opportunity to Improve

Teachers play an equally important role in managing children’s disappointments and guiding them to have a positive outlook. At Winmore, one of the best schools in Bangalore, we do not define students by their weaknesses. While applauding achievements, we train students to use their strengths to their advantage. Winners are not always the ones who succeed; they are the ones who handle life’s disappointments.