Subject: Nice mission
Author:
Posted on: 2010-09-15 01:44:00 UTC
That overconfidence thing you said in the mission is something I have said for a long time. I saw a study once (sorry no link), that talked about those programs and pointed out that often times the kids that scored the highest on the tests were the biggest troublemakers, rule breakers, and lowest achievers. They often failed at everything, but were totally happy about themselves while they were doing it.
Self-confidence of the healthy kind does not come from being told you're doing great when your not. I've always believed it comes from knowing that you are competent. People look at me funny over this sometimes, but my kids (age 9 & 10) know how to run all the major appliances in the house, how to take care of their own things, how to cook several basic meals, and how to take care of several other types of things. They know they can do these things. They do not feel helpless to meet their own needs, and they don't get to feel that sense of entitlement that I am their maid. If they decide they want to learn something like cooking or sewing or whittling, then I will help them with it, teach them how, give them room to make their mistakes, and then give them pointers on how to continue to improve.
They might not score the absolute highest on the self-confidence tests, but they have a more realistic confidence.