Babies Who See Their Parents Struggle Learn Perseverance, According to Science

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Parenthood is full of challenges and there’s no such thing as perfection when it comes to any of it. Luckily, there’s a benefit to those difficult moments when you’ve found yourself struggling. A new study shows that breaking a sweat can be good, and that watching you work hard to overcome a problem can actually teach your kids perseverance.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently proved the old adage that it’s not how good you are at something, but how hard you try. At least when it comes to parents and teaching their kids the importance of not giving up. In the study, 260 babies ages 13 to 18 months were challenged with a musical toy box to activate. Of the babies studied, those who had witnessed an adult struggling with a task for at least 30 seconds just before being presented with the toy tried harder to succeed at their own challenge, than those babies who had seen an adult perform a task effortlessly.

As Live Science reports, the study’s findings suggested that there is “potential value in letting children ‘see you sweat’.” In other words kids don’t need you to be super mom all the time and they can actually benefit from watching you fail, as long as you continue to try.

Do you think it’s important that your kids see you struggle? Share your thoughts in the comments below.