Teaching your child to persevere is, above all, about helping them build self-confidence and giving them moments of pride, big and small, every day. Learning perseverance also means gaining self-assurance and being able to face the many challenges that will come their way, both in their personal life and at school.
Just like finishing a jigsaw puzzle with several hundred pieces, completing a sports challenge or learning to read, using the General Store will give your children the chance, through sustained effort, to develop the precious perseverance that will help them reach their goals. To make sure your child experiences success and doesn't get discouraged along the way, though, it's important to follow a few principles:
- Adjust your expectations: base them not only on your child's developmental level, but also on their temperament and abilities. If your demands are too high, your child will have a hard time collecting tokens and will probably lose motivation more quickly. Feel free to refer to our guide to developing independence to get the real picture of what kids can do at each age!
- Motivate and encourage: it's time to bring out the cheerleader in you! Your child needs to know that you're proud of the effort they're putting in; besides giving them tokens, make sure to congratulate them and acknowledge their perseverance every day.
- Take small steps: it's best to start by giving the different reward sections of your General Store low token values, so your child can enjoy success quickly and easily. Once they've reached a few goals and shown perseverance for a while, gradually raise the value of each section of the store to slowly increase the level of difficulty.
- Be a role model: feel free to set yourself challenges too, ones that are right for you, and take the time to reward yourself when you reach your goals. Your kids will see that even adults need to persevere, and they'll surely want to follow your lead!
Finally, don't forget to carefully choose the token value of each reward you'll put up for sale in your General Store. If your child has been longing for an item or a privilege for a long time and brings it up often, make sure they have to put in just the right amount of effort to finally earn it!
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