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No, It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect

 


I actually intended to write this post, when the previous post tumbled out onto the page instead. This incident happened just the other night. I was with one of my 7 year olds and she wanted to play Chutes and Ladders. When we took the game down, it required the set up of a new game. I arranged the parts and tasked her with assembling the game while I went to the restroom. Upon my return she had successfully set up the spinner and 4 playing pieces. However, that is not where my eyes or mind gravitated. Instead I saw the pieces still attached to the plastic making it look like the game set up was incomplete. Thankfully the Holy Spirit showed me myself before the words of criticism could fully leave my lips. I praised her for the excellent set up, and realized that what looked incomplete was actually irrelevant to the game. She loved playing the game and demanded to play again the next night. 

The lesson is that I can easily damage others with a perfectionistic mentality. Still today I hear the "what happened to the other 3 points" when presenting a grade that was less than 100 during my childhood. That "why is it not perfect" mentality threatens to plague those I pour into, unless I say the curse stops with me!


A few weeks ago I was working with one of my 10 year olds during quarantine. He was working on some multi-digit multiplication problems. For my non teachers and non math brains, problems like 526 x 324. His multiplication was excellent but something was off with his attention to precision. The teacher in me came out and I gave him some tricks of the trade to improve his addition accuracy. On that first day he really tried, but still struggled to get correct answers. I had to tap into the mom I want to be, and allow him to "finish" with incorrect answers. The next morning he wanted to work on it again, and was able to correct all but 1 problem. Again tapping into the mom I want to be, I was happy with his desire to want to correct. I am learning for myself, and therefore for others; no, it doesn't have to be perfect. By the end of the week he was able to do the multiplication correctly and sought to get them right for himself, not for me. Interestingly enough, in a house of 9 kids his work happened to be the best, despite my stance of perfection not required.

Hopefully I can continue to internalize that for myself so I can continue to pass it on to others.  #BigLessonsFromLittles












 

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