Unpopular parenting opinion here:
If you want grit, you have to give slack. You have to be okay with risk-taking that leads to mediocre results for a significant amount of time. (part 1)

We didn& #39;t put our kids in elite club sports. We played for hours in the backyard. We did non-competitive leagues at the Y. We said, "the goal is fun." And the boys fell in love with baseball. They started playing it daily. They got nerdy and video-recorded their swings (part 2)

Years later, they are playing more competitively. Still, yesterday, my sons both struck out (batting 3rd and 4th in the line-up) in a hyper-competitive game. One followed the at-bat with a double. The other with home run. Striking out just wasn& #39;t a big deal. (part 3)

Yesterday, as a pitcher, my younger son struck out the first kid and then gave up a home run. He followed it by a walk. I wanted the coach to pull him. But he rallied and struck out two more kids. It was *so hard* to let my kid struggle. But he wasn& #39;t rattled. (part 4)

I mention this because somehow grit has been incorporated into a high-stakes, "failure is not okay" mindset but I truly believe one of the best gifts we can give to a kid is the permission to suck at the things they love to do before they ever get better. (part 5)