How to *connect* instead of correct

Imagine this: Your child is excitedly pointing out letters everywhere, when all of a sudden they say, “Look, the letter C!” The only problem? It’s the letter D. Hmm, what do you do?

You have two choices. You can correct: “Oh, that’s not the letter C, that’s the letter D.” Or you can choose *connection* over correction. Because let’s be real, nobody likes to be corrected.

When we constantly correct, we risk our child getting self-conscious about their learning and losing their enthusiasm for fear of getting things wrong.

Instead, let’s encourage their excitement and keep their positive feelings going!

Whether your child announces that L is for elephant or that a square block is a triangle, resist the urge to correct and use my one-minute method to connect instead:

LET GO OF THE LIE:
If your child’s error causes feelings of anxiety, there’s a lie hiding somewhere. Maybe it’s: “If I don’t correct, my child will NEVER get this right!” Or “My child “should” know this by now.” Kick those thoughts to the curb! When we’re learning, there are bound to be mistakes, and that’s ok.

TRUST:
This can be hard, I know. But young children are natural learners. They learn all the time, and don’t need to be shown how. Trust your child to learn.

CONNECT:
Ok, so they misidentified a letter. Big deal. The fact that they even know it’s a letter is AMAZING! Try, “Cool! You found a letter!” As for L is for elephant, try: “Oh, I didn’t think of that!” (I mean, it does make total sense) If your child miscounted something, try: “It’s so fun to count, isn’t it?” For colors: “That color is beautiful, I love that you noticed it!”

MODEL:
Later, model and use the correct language yourself. This is all the help your child needs. “Oh, look! There’s the letter D.” Your child can learn anything through modeling. Not only that, but they’ll figure it out on their own, which is what true learning is all about.

As you can tell, we don’t need to correct in order to help our children learn. Strive for connection over correction, and your child will not only learn, but will develop positive feelings about learning.