By Savvy Auntie Staff Writers
September 27, 2017

Some aunts don’t want to let our nieces and nephews see us struggle to solve a problem. After all, we want them to feel if they come to us with a problem they need help, we are savvy enough to help them. However, it turns out that if we want them to follow our advice, we’ve been doing it all wrong. Letting them see us struggle may be the best way to model how they can come to us for help - and solve their own problems more independently.

A new study by researchers at MIT has found that toddlers who witness a grownup struggle to reach a goal before achieving success are more likely than those who see an adult complete tasks with ease, are more likely to try harder themselves.

MIT researchers designed an experiment where they looked at two groups of toddlers as watched adults manage completing tasks. One group of 15-month-olds watched as adults had trouble with one of two tasks, and succeeded after persevering. The other group of toddlers watched adults having little or no problem with the tasks, completing them easily three times in just 30 seconds.

The babies were then given their own task of turning on a music box after adults demonstrated turning on the toy for them. Then, the toddlers were given a music box to turn on themselves. With two minutes on the clock, each toddler played with the toy while the researchers recorded the number of times they tried to turn the toy on by pressing a red button. The experimenters found that the group of toddlers who had seen an adult struggle with his or her task “pressed the button nearly twice as many times overall as those who saw the adult easily succeed.” These valiant babies also tried to turn on the music box by pressing the button “nearly twice as many times before first asking for help or tossing the toy.”

The researchers also reported that when they made direct contact with the toddlers by saying the baby's name, making eye contact, and speaking directly with them, “the babies tried harder” than with those with whom they did not interact. This is in line with previous research that demonstrates the value of demonstrating pedagogical cues for learning.

The lesson for Savvy Aunties is to not be concerned with showing our less savvy moments in completing a task in front of our littlest nieces and nephews. They are watching – and learning – how to keep trying before giving up. And when our baby and toddler nieces and nephews are trying hard to complete a task, we should make show to look at them, talk to them, and say their name.

Chances are, if they know you are with them as they try to tackle the problem themselves, they will be more likely to ask for help and keep going until they reach success.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Babies can learn that hard work pays off: Infants try harder after seeing adults struggle to achieve a goal."

Photo: Anatols