Celebrating success and achievement comes naturally in our task-oriented society. We feel pride when we complete a challenge, overcome adversity or master a skill. However, we often need reminders about the importance of acknowledging the process and celebrating when things don’t go quite to plan, but we continue on anyway. 

Our tag line at Educated by Nature is, ‘Resilience through Connection’. We strive to support children (and adults) develop resilience as a core skill that supports us when things don’t go as planned. One way we do this is by celebrating and honouring failure. 

In this episode of Campfire Conversations, entitled ‘Celebrating the Friction’ Daniel Burton (Co-founder of Educated by Nature) and Nadia Robinson (Nature Playworker) discuss the importance of supporting children to persevere through tough times. They consider how adults working with children are able to support children in these moments, rather than rescuing them when the going gets tough. When adults sit with children in those uncomfortable feelings and use language that honours the process or acknowledges frustration, we build the child’s capacity to persist and not give up. 

Please note: this episode was recorded in 2016, and our program structure has since changed. We are still passionate about celebrating frustration but now focus on 6-12-year-olds. For more information, or to make a booking, please visit our website at www.educatedbynature.com.

In this episode of Campfire Conversations, Trudi Bennett and Daniel Burton discuss why FIRE is one of their key passions and an important aspect of Educated by Nature programs.