By Ann Marie Shambaugh
Zionsville Community Schools held its first public event as part of the Strong in Every Way initiative by hosting teacher and author Jessica Lahey at the Zionsville Peforming Arts Center March 14.
Lahey shared several stories and principles from her bestselling book, “The Gift of Failure.” She said that students need to develop autonomy, competence and connections to increase their chances of finding success and fulfillment.
“I would far rather have a perfectly average, heck, below average kid, who can be frustrated, who can deal with it and take a breath and push through than a super-talented, gifted, wonderful kid who falls apart at the moment they become frustrated,” Lahey said.
Lahey has dealt with all kinds of parents, including one mom who said Lahey couldn’t punish her daughter for plagiarism because her daughter didn’t write the report – the mom wrote it herself. While that example may be extreme, Lahey said it’s easy for parents to want to do too much for their kids to help them avoid failure.
“I completely understood the (mother’s) impulse. If my child was under that much emotional strain I would want to do anything I could to alleviate that pain, to take something off of their shoulders, because our kids are under so much stress and we are supposed to protect them,” Lahey said. “That’s all she was trying to do, (but) in a little whacked out way.”
After the presentation, Lahey took questions from the audience. She finished the event signing books and meeting attendees.
The Strong in Every Way initiative is designed to encourage students to build non-academic skills, such as grit and resilience.
