Freebie Friday: Parenting Tips - Coping With Criticism

(FYI: This was taken from Mark Merrill's blog. The original post can be read here.)

Teaching your children how to cope with criticism is something that will help them for the rest of their lives.  Criticism is something that everyone experiences. When used properly, criticism is a tool for building others up and improving a person. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t just want a pat on the back.  I actually prefer constructive criticism from my wife, children and co-workers because I know that I can grow from it.

So help your children cope with criticism by sharing these two truths.

Criticism is Your Friend.

Nobody likes to be told that they’re doing something wrong.  It’s hard not to be defensive, hurt, or even angry.  But try to look past your feelings and try to see the truth in the critique.  Take the suggestions and get better.  Accept each criticism as an opportunity to learn and improve.  It may be hard to see it at first, but criticism is your friend.

Consider the Source.

Teach your children to consider who’s giving the criticism. Is it someone who genuinely cares about you? Or, is it just a person who wants to correct everyone and everything?  Sometimes we are criticized wrongly.  When that happens, your children need to know that it’s good to graciously listen to the person, but then can discard the criticism if there is no merit to it.

That’s what American Idol hopeful, Chris Medina did.  He was able to take the criticism that he got from the judges and learn from it.  He sought out and valued their input, making changes to his performance style and song choices along the way.  But when he was eliminated before the final 24, he was able to weed out the wrong criticisms and continue to pursue his dreams.  Despite the criticism.  What will you do?