Spelling Bee Participation

My 7 year old daughter E came home one day with a flier. It had the announcement for the school spelling bee and many pages of words attached to it. She was very apprehaensive and nervous about even participating, which made me even more determined to convince her to do it.

I opted for the direct approach, which did not necessarily work that well. I said it would be good for her to do this because it would push her to learn. It would also be good to just get used to overcoming your feats. E resisted even though I could see that she was interested. It was her fear of failure that prevented her from diving in.

My wife had the softer approach and eventually E gave in. She wanted to do it even though she was scared. My wife started to help with the prep and even bought new whiteboards to help with studying. E was very temperamental in the beginning when she would get something wrong. It was also not natural to say the word, spell the word, and say the word again. It took a few cycles and now it seems like the worst is past in terms of the attitude.

We’ll continue to tell E that we are proud of her for the effort and participation. It already made her a better speller and these are the things I wish someone pushed me to do when I was a kid. Maybe if I did, I would be a better speller than I am today. I don’t want my kids to make the same mistakes (since they should be making some new ones!) and to take these opportunities as they come. Feeling the pressure is a privilege that means you are doing something worth doing. It just takes a nudge sometimes to build that muscle to take the leap.