I read something a while ago that resonated, and I tried it out and have had a lot of success with my kid. If the kid is hesitant to try something that you kno

I read something a while ago that resonated, and I tried it out and have had a lot of success with my kid. If the kid is hesitant to try something that you know will end up being easy, the natural thing is to tell them it's going to be easy. But if you tell someone something is easy, and their personal experience is already that it's hard, well, the conclusion isn't necessarily "oh I was wrong, now it's easy, thanks dad, I'll actually try now". It may instead be "oh wow I suck at the easy thing I guess". So now I do the opposite. She's struggling with something? I tell her it's hard. And I pair it with some indication that it won't be hard forever and is worth learning. So now if I see her struggling I don't say "This is easy, let me show you". I definitely don't say "This is easy, just give it a shot". I say "Oh yeah, this part's hard at first. But I know a trick."