Perfectionistic children can cause frustration. At least, that’s what I’ve found.
My son had to have the perfect handwriting. If it wasn’t good enough, he would erase and
do it over. No problem, right? Wrong!
He continued to erase until there was a hole in the paper. A meltdown followed because now the paper
wasn’t perfect!
One of my daughter’s (which will remain nameless) wanted the
perfect school projects. She had a
difficulty choosing a topic. I remember
trying to suggest ideas. If it wasn’t
the “perfect” project, she would reject the idea. But when she got the idea, it became a family
project. She was determined that her
project would be the perfect project if everyone contributed.
Do you have a child that’s a perfectionist? It can come in various forms and it takes a
lot of ability to help your child when things don’t go perfectly, no matter
what it is. They often become
disappointed and want to quit or feel life is over. These thoughts and actions can keep a child
from moving forward in many ways. One
main, thing to remember: deal with the
child’s thinking process before trying to deal with the behavior. Perfectionism starts in the mind, later it
moves to action.
