Teaching Children to Try Regardless of Whether They Succeed

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Eddie the Eagle through their partnership with POPSUGAR. While I was compensated by POPSUGAR to write a post about Eddie the Eagle all opinions are my own.

Do you know anything about Michael “Eddie” Edwards? Honestly, I didn’t until recently when I found out about the movie “Eddie the Eagle” inspired by the story of how in 1988 Eddie became the first person to compete in Olympic ski jumping on behalf of Great Britain. Check out the trailer!

The biopic, which opens in theaters on February 26^th, is being dubbed as a feel-good comedy about an underdog who never stops believing in himself and does the improbable. The film stars Taron Egerton as Eddie the Eagle and Hugh Jackman as his coach.

I like a feel-good, inspiring film as much as the next person, but the reason I’m looking forward to watching this film is because it has the kind of lessons in it that I want to teach my children and what makes it even better is that this isn’t a “story” that someone made up, this is something that actually happened: a person with all the odds stacked against him bet on himself, and you don’t need to know whether he comes in first or last to know that he’s a winner.

One thing that has become exceedingly clear to me as a mother is that I have no interest in raising children who are most likely to succeed. Don’t get me wrong, I will be proud and happy for my children when they do succeed, but what I really feel passionately about is raising children who are most likely to try regardless of whether success is likely.

I wish I had learned this lesson earlier in my own life because there is NEVER any shame in trying and giving it your all regardless of the outcome, am I right? Spoiler: I’m totally right!

Are you interested in seeing the film? You can learn more about it on Facebook and follow the conversation on Twitter.