Tom Brady explains why it is important for kids to fail and it's something we could all learn from

Failure is a negative word, and people try to stay away from it as much as they can. But failure in its true sense helps us work our way to the top, and failure is a part of the journey. If you think about it from a different perspective, such as failure being a stepping stone that leads to whatever you do next, It sounds more applicable, doesn't it? Not everything goes as you plan, and as humans, you are bound to make mistakes and sometimes even fail. As kids, we were also taught to stigmatize failure; however, it looks like Tom Brady won't be doing that to his children. He is setting refreshing parenting hacks for his kids to embrace and learn from mistakes and failures, which is a natural process.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and father of three shared his parenting advice with co-host Jim Gray during an episode of “Let’s Go,” on January 23, as per TODAY.  “In life, you try a lot of things, and you fail. It’s part of life,” Brady, 45, said. “We try things, we really push ourselves to try something new, and it doesn’t go the way we want. So what do you do? Do you care less? Do you care more? Or do you take that experience for what it was and then you try to learn from it and grow from it and find the resilience that we all want to teach our children?” Well, that is some pretty good advice. New parents, take notes. "I don’t want it to go right for my kids all the time," Brady explained on the podcast. 

"I told them that this morning — I said, ‘I want you guys to fail because I want to see what you’re made of if you fail and when you fail.’ Because life isn’t gonna be just a smooth ride, so we gotta develop resiliency. You know, schools teach that sports teach that, a lot of things are taught through that." Gray asked Brady if his children are "afraid" to fail, to which he replied:  "I think naturally it’s probably hard for everyone in our society right now to feel like you can fail or you can say the wrong thing. There are heavy repercussions to even admitting that you failed." Moreover, the dad of three encourages his best to do their best even if they fail. "We’re all cool with that if you did your best." 

Brady and his ex-wife and supermodel Gisele Bundchen share two children together: Benjamin, 13, and Vivian, 10. After their divorce back in 2009, the couple is known to prioritize their children above everything else. Brady also has a 15-year-old son, Jack, with his former partner, actor Bridget Moynahan. Brady's advice is 'realistic', says Francyne Zeltser, clinical director of psychology, training, and special projects at Manhattan Psychology Group in New York City. "It sounds like Tom Brady wants his children to learn from their experiences versus his own. That makes sense." She goes on to add, “The reality is, not everyone is good at everything. If everything goes smoothly for kids all the time, they won’t identify their strengths and weaknesses, which can be areas of growth or learning experiences."

Since the word 'failure' has an air of apparent finality, it can be very tricky at times. "The word can be a thinking trap, suggesting that someone is either successful or a failure," she explains. "However, life often happens in that gray area." Lastly, failure does put your patience to the test, builds resilience over time, and provides you with the leeway to make better decisions and analyze what needs to be done to move you toward where you want to be in your life.