We learn by making mistakes, so screw up kid

My kids often ask how I fix computers and how I learned so much about them and where you can go to learn what I know. There’s really not a course that teaches what I know… you can become expert in an area, but most of what I’ve learned I learned from experience figuring out how things broke in the first place and by breaking things intentionally.

And that’s what I tell my kiddos – Screw up. A lot. That’s how we learn. Be prepared to clean up a lot as well because nobody wants to clean up your mess. Don’t have a solution? Try something, anything. If it doesn’t work it doesn’t work and probably didn’t make things any worse. But you know, if it is going to make something worse or did, stop, clean up, reassess.

We don’t let the kids burn themselves or damage themselves, but beyond that I encourage them to take a problem, try and fix it, realize tape and glue almost never work even though they are the number one go-to options in the kiddo’s tool arsenals. And have fun. A problem can be an adventure, it doesn’t always have to be something that ruins your day.

You don’t solve this issue? Too bad… someone else will. Learn from them. Not a failing on you if you’ve learned at the end.