All children need to be able to be a team player as there are going to be times in their school life when they have to work with others and not just work alone. There are some great benefits of teamwork. One of those is that teams bring children and skills together that complement each other. Where one person thrives and excels in one area, another child can bring different skills to the table.
It is good to be part of a team, but some children do not feel confident being part of one and they may worry that they are going to let the side down. If your child worries about this, challenge the thoughts that they have. Ask why do they think they are not good enough? Why would their teacher or friends have chosen them to be a part of that team if they were not great at…?
Help Your Child Be A Team Player
- List their strengths and what they are good at that would really benefit the others in the team.
- Reassure your child that they are good enough- talk through the list and make them realise that they can only do their best.
- Perhaps you could share with them a story of when you were in a team, all the great things about it and how you did your best and how it was recognised.
- You could even share a story with them of how you nearly won something through team work and how you responded so they can see both sides of the doing your best.
- Finally help them to see that if they don’t do as well as they expected in the team that this was due to the whole team working together and that it was not down to just them as an individual.
Is your child a team player? If not, how have you helped them to become one?
All these strategies and more can be found in The Parent’s Toolkit.
Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
