Study: Adults' actions, successes, failures, and words affect young children's persistence

Children's persistence in the face of challenges is key to learning and academic success. However, we know little about how parents and educators can help foster persistent behavior in children before they begin formal schooling. A new U.S. study looked at the interactions of preschool-age children with adults to determine how they affected the children's persistence. It found that the efforts adults put into their actions, successes and failures, and words affected children's persistent behavior to differing degrees.