Yes, I completely agree and I do appreciate it when kids catch my genuine errors. I usually thank them for paying attention! But I’ve had a few over the years who cross the line and it becomes tiring.

This is something we REALLY struggle with at our house – this is my personality to a T (I hate failure) and it’s already clearly the way my 2.5yo approaches things.

Watching Olympic cycling gave us a great example, though – when the cyclists fall down, they get right back up and keep going, fast, until they catch up again. My daughter picked up on that pretty quickly.

But yeah, we’re trying to find lots of opportunities to show her we try stuff and aren’t always good at it.

Re: Kelly’s point, I agree that telling a kid they’re smart is lazy praise. However, I’d also like to say that I think it’s ok for a kid to correct a teacher (respectfully) if they’re wrong. I think the key is teaching them how to do that. I’d rather not raise kids to be quiet, obedient sheep who always assume that the teacher MUST be correct/right.

Also, from a teacher’s perspective, the kids who have been told they’re smart are super annoying because they are lazy as all get out and they are constantly trying to correct the teacher. I challenge you to find something more annoying than being repeatedly corrected by a twelve year old.

I much prefer the students who have been told to work hard and that their education is their responsibility. They get their work done, are more receptive to other people’s ideas and they are a pleasure to teach.

I think it’s good for him to see the upside of being wrong.