When things do not go our way, we feel disappointed. For adults, handling disappointment could be difficult, and the same goes for children - sometimes even worse.
As children have minimal experiences when handling disappointment, they tend to lose hope quickly and give up right there and then.
However, as parents, it is disheartening to see your children suddenly lose interest in something that they looked forward to or set their minds to achieve.
Disappointment can lead to other problems if not appropriately handled can lead to children feeling incompetent and inadequate.
Here are three simple ways to support children in handling disappointment:
Help their children set sensible expectations
Disappointment arises when a person is unable to reach his or her expectation. Because most children are full of idealism, they tend to set the expectations bar too high. That is why when they are not able to achieve this expectation; they become unmotivated and disappointed.
To remedy this, parents should teach their children what is possible. Another important concept that children should learn is delayed gratification. When children learn this concept, they can understand that some things in this world would need more time before they are received.
Empathize with children
Invalidating the feelings of children will not do them any good. Empathizing with a child's feelings means that you acknowledge whatever it is that they are going through.
Even though parents would sometimes think that the root of disappointment is petty, empathizing can be the first step in opening the communication lines.
When your disappointed child starts to talk, that is a signal that she feels she is not alone. If you shared your own experience in the past, it would be an excellent way to show your child that you had learnings from the disappointing events you had.
Teach children the essence of perseverance
As mentioned, children who become disappointed tend to lose interest in things to which they once dedicated so much time. They can also have a feeling of incompetence.
However, parents can use this time to help them understand the importance of effort and persistence.
Parents can start doing this by helping children find the silver lining in their bad experiences.
No matter how much parents would want children to always win in life, it is inevitable that they will also go through difficult times. As they go through these difficulties, it is unsure whether parents will always be right next to their children when they happen.
What should be kept in mind is that if kids will learn how to handle disappointment, overcoming failures will be a much easier task for them.
At an early age, teaching children these concepts will help them grow stronger in facing other challenges that might come their way.
