Michael Jordan on Failure

I really love the message that Michael Jordan is saying in this ad — “I’ve failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

One of my biggest challenges as a mom is getting my 6-year old to take mistakes or defeat as a learning experience and not a personal failure.    Teaching him to read bigger words usually ends in tears of frustration and sobbed-out phrases like “I can’t do it.  It’s so hard. ”   Saying “try and try until you succeed” will only get you so far until it become too repetitive and ignored.

I’ve always wondered how other parents nurture their kids.   How do you teach them to be competitive yet sportsmanlike?  How do you teach them that losing is not the end of the world?