"Crush Your Child's Dreams" Says Article. Umm, No. - Merit Educational Consultants

“Crush Your Child’s Dreams” Says Article. Umm, No.

I read the article “Why you shouldn’t tell children they can be whatever they want” with trepidation.

Tim Lott suggests that instead of telling children they are special and can be superstars, we should emphasize self-control and hard work.

Frankly, I don’t see why we can’t do both.  I believe that we should encourage kids to reach for the stars AND that they’ll have to work really hard to get there. 

Lott’s mentality kind of reminds me of the helicopter parents who stop children mid-game in order to spare them the feelings of defeat, should they lose.  

Just because all children don’t become astronauts doesn’t mean that they will grow up feeling like failures.

Whatever happened to the “If you don’t shoot, you won’t score” philosophy?