
Patience & Persistence
Learning how to cope with frustration is an important skill for all children.
Patience and persistence are powerful skills that can help kids work through frustration and accomplish goals. You can help them build these skills using the strategies below.
Introduce “The Power of Yet”
Let children know that just because they can’t do something now, that does not mean they won’t ever be able to do it. Teach them the phrase, “I just can’t do it yet.” Remind them that learning something new takes time and practice. You might say, “Remember when you did not know how to button your shirt. You tried and tried and now you can do it all on your own!”
Breathe, Think, Do
When children have a frustrating moment, it can be difficult for them to find the tools to calm down. To help, teach them these steps:
- Breathe: Encourage children to slowly take three deep breaths.
- Think: Help children come up with some possible plans to solve their problem.
- Do: Together, choose a plan and try it out. If it doesn’t work, try another.
Embrace Mistakes
You can help children be more persistent when you show them that mistakes are okay—in fact, they are an important part of learning. Let children see you make mistakes and stay positive after making them.

Building and Rebuilding Language Skills—and Community!
An article about building children’s language skills by enriching your interactions.

Abby's Broken Wand
A storybook featuring strategies to help children cope with big feelings.

Understanding Bullying
Senior Vice President of Curriculum and Content, Rosemarie Truglio, PhD, examines bullying as it affects young children, and shares ways to handle—and prevent—it.

Building a Connected Community
Take a course on ways to help children and families get ready for school and life--together!

Little Neighbors
In this webinar, you’ll learn how you can use our “Little Neighbors” initiative to help children and their families discover their power to make their communities—and the world—a happier, healthier, safer place for everyone.

Caring Communities
In our course Caring Communities, you can explore the ways to embed storybooks, printables, videos, and digital games in your work with everyone in your neighborhood.

Roads to Resilience
The course Roads to Resilience highlights some of the best assets from topics across SesameWorkshop.org with customized approaches, tips and tricks on using these resources in your work with caregivers and their children.