Children and parents often make the mistake of focusing on the result or outcome of a task. This can contribute to anxiety and unhealthy competitive behaviour.  It also can make children feel despondent, incompetent, helpless or frustrated.

It is important to teach your child that task completion is a process and to not only focus on the result.  Parents need to be aware, motivate and praise their child while they complete each step of task completion:

STEP 1:  Plan the task

STEP 2: Start the task

STEP 3: Follow through

STEP 4:  Finish the task

These four steps are the foundation of work ethic.  If children are praised and they consistently get positive feedback while they complete each individual step, they will believe all steps matter and have value. Self-confidence, competency and a feeling of achievement will be fostered.

Children that might feel anxious and unsure about their competency will worry and overfocus on the results which leads them to finding it difficult to start tasks comfortably. Children with attention difficulties often struggle with Step 3 (follow through) which then might result in them not receiving positive feedback during the task completion process. Children with specific learning difficulties, for example dyslexia might invest a lot of effort to complete a task but the results do not always reflect their effort.

Using these four steps will help parents and children to approach tasks with a positive attitude and with the knowledge that they can complete the various steps of task completion successfully.

                                                                                               “And will you succeed?

                                                                                                  Yes! You will, indeed!

                                                                                          (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed)”

                                                                                                             –Dr Seuss –