The Connection Between Competency and Mental Well Being

In this podcast, Todd and Julie Fisher discuss how feeling competent and capable affects kids’ mental well-being. When parents are quick to step in to “help”, they rob kids of the experience to fail or make mistakes. While it’s often easier and faster to instruct them what to do or how to do it, what parents are really doing is robbing children of the opportunity to learn that they, themselves, can solve their problems. When parents don’t allow kids those crucial learning opportunities, what they are often saying (without actually saying the words) is “I don’t trust you to do it right”. Todd and Julie discuss how parents’ actions and reactions affect kids’ feelings about competence as well as ways for parents to step back and allow their kids to learn that they can become competent when they persevere.