My DD8 is a perfectionist. She likes to do her best at everything she does. She is not challenged with her school curriculum and that does not bother her because she wants to be the smartest kid and the best at what she does.
FWIW, I don't encourage this mentality and I downplay being the best and being perfect, I remind her that nobody is perfect.
At home I try to challenge her since I know the curriculum at school is not giving her what she needs academically to learn and grow. When I introduce concepts that are new to her she gets short tempered, frustrated and tells me she can't do them because they are too hard. They might be difficult for her, but I am certain she could sit and listen to instruction and eventually understand.
Today she was playing a game with me that she got for Christmas, it is called Rubik's Race and requires you to go head to head to complete a pattern before your competitor does. She was more then half way through completing the pattern when I finished mine (I am pretty good at patterns) and I worked with her to complete it. When I asked her to play again she said she never wanted to play that game again because it is too hard. Is it too hard for her? No, it challenged her and she didn't get to be the "best" at it, so she doesn't want to work on it anymore.
I won't accept this for her so I had a short talk with her about how I want her to be exposed to things that are difficult to do because those are the things that challenge her to learn. She understands what I am saying but resists.
I don't want her to grow up into a lazy complacent person, who will only attempt to do things if they can guarantee a successful result (heck, that resembles me way too much and I want a lot more for her!)
Is there anything I can do to nip this in the bud before it gets worse?
Thanks!!
