Page 73 - 16-21 September 18 2019

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The Gift

of Failure

By Rifka Schonfeld, Director of S.O.S.
(Strategies For Optimum Success)

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can
ever achieve greatly.” clearly outlines what those
- Robert F. Kennedy skills in the toolbox are in order to gain
autonomy and competence. He believes
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 that the best way to get ahead in life is
ways that won’t work.” to build character. And, how is character
- Thomas A. Edison built? According to Tough, character is
created by encountering and overcoming
“Success is stumbling from failure to fail- failure. And, character is just what chil-
ure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
- Winston Churchill classroom and beyond.

Robert F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Persistence. Persistence is about know-
Bulletin
and Winston Churchill, three men who The
-
tury, had something very important to say
about failure. Failure, they say, is part of blue engine is the smallest of all the en-
the process of success. In other words, gines, she is the only one who agrees to
without failure, you cannot eventually help the dolls and toys over the mountain.
succeed. In her book, Though it is unclear whether such a small
engine can succeed, the engine repeats to
, Jessica Lahey herself, “I think I can. I think I can.” And
eventually makes it to the other side of
children’s lives. She explains that early the mountain.
failure and its consequences help children
develop a toolbox of skills to gain autono- It is just this persistence or perseverance
my and competence for later in life. that we need to teach our children. When
struggling, we need to push ourselves in
Paul Tough, in his book - order to reach our goal. Like all non-cog-