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We Get It: Parenting a Perfectionist

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In a previous life, before children, I worked as a recruiter. I conducted hundreds of interviews in my time and when I asked the typical question "What's your greatest weakness?" I was always surprised at the number of people who said "I'm a perfectionist." I mean really, how can striving to do the best possible job, at the cost of everything else, really be a weakness? Then I had my youngest daughter, and I have learned what a challenge being a perfectionist can truly be.

We first noticed our daughter's perfectionism in her earliest drawings. Where my eldest daughter was busy scribbling at 2 years old, my youngest was meticulous. At a very early age her artwork was not experimental. When colouring a colouring page, instead of her crayons rolling freely on the page, she would use small dots of colour, placed strategically in the middle of the white voids. My daughter's artwork was filled with circles...her attempts at making a perfect circle.

young child's first drawings
attempts at the "perfect" circle at 2 years of age

It made for incredibly neat artwork, and we didn't really see anything too strange. It was as she aged that her colouring inside the lines and her need to create perfect shapes became an obsession.

young child's colouring page
an example of her earliest attempts at colouring age 2

When my daughter was around 3 years old she began learning how to write. Her ability to concentrate and focus on a task was amazing. The problem was that for every success she had, there were inevitable failures. My daughter had no ability to cope with failure. One "wrong" move and she was thrown into anger and tears. It felt so strange to be consoling my shattered 3 year old and telling her it was okay and that we could just erase her mistakes. Erasing was never good enough...she would throw things out and start all over again.

young child's earliest attempts at writing
learning to write at age 3
It got to the point where I could not sit down and draw or write or craft with my daughter. The pressure she put on herself to do things "perfectly" was too much. Too much for her and too much for me.

Her perfectionism spilled into other areas of her life as well. She became, and still is to an extent, incredibly controlling over her belongings. If you moved her toys from the position she had placed them in, she would have a complete breakdown. Helping her with anything became impossible. Only the way that she wanted things done was acceptable.

My real concern was, and is, her ability to lessen her need for things to be perfect and to find ways to cope with making mistakes. We have tried many approaches to try and help our daughter evolve. It has truly been an ongoing process.

- In the beginning I would purposefully colour outside of the lines to show her that making a "mistake" was acceptable.
- Instead of praising her with words like "the butterfly you drew is beautiful" I would say "you did a great job."  Trying to focus the praise on her, not on the work.
- We encourage her to do more abstract artwork, not focusing on realism. Instead of attempting to recreate something she can see, having her create something in her mind...no mistakes can be made if it is from her imagination. A great example of this would be her recent George Rodrigue inspired artwork. She was incredibly happy with her piece. The artwork allowed her to use her imagination to create a magical looking scene, with unrealistic colours and shapes.
* Praising her effort and not the finished product.
* Modelling effective ways to deal with mistakes with her older sister and ourselves, as parents.

Many of the articles I have read about having a child who is a perfectionist tend to imply that parental and school pressure can contribute to the problem. We have taken inventory of how we approach our children and I'm not sure I see this as a factor for our daughter.  The perfectionist characteristic has been present in her always, it seems quite innate. However, we can see how the added pressure at school might lead to more difficulties in the future.

Truth be told there are still breakdowns. Work is still tossed in the recycling bin. On those days we try and focus on praising her determination. I now understand that her strive to be perfect will always be a challenge for her. My hope is that she can come to appreciate the effort it takes to get to the end product. She will make many mistakes in her life. As she grows she is learning that it it okay to fall down, you can always get right back up and try again.

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Today's post is part of  Golden Gleam's parenting series We Get It: Support For Difficult Childhood Behaviour. Please hop over and take a look at the other parenting topics being covered in this series. Other topics include; night terrors, self centred,   kids who touch everything, anxiety, strong willed and temper tantrums.

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About Jen

Jen Farr is a mother living in Toronto, Canada. She has been sharing her DIY crafts, recipes, activities and parenting advice for over 15 years on her blog Kitchen Counter Chronicle. Jen is the mom of 2 lovely daughters. She believes in the power of taking small steps that can make big impacts on the world.

Comments

  1. Kierna C says

    Thanks so much for this post, as a teacher of 3-4 year olds, I always have one or two who are perfectionists. Your comment about avoiding craft activities strucka chord, as I hate to see these children approach the craft table, as I know thay are going to end up totally frustrated. I also agree that it is as much nature as nuture. Looking forward to you hopefull joiing the outdoor play party, Kierna

    • Mel says

      That is so super sad, Kierna! I teach a preschool art class, and absolutely LOVE teaching my occasional perfectionists, because I know that they're the ones who are really thinking about and caring about what they're doing, as opposed to some of my other students who are "happy enough" with everything they do, even if it's carelessly rushing through to just get the project "over with". Are they more of a challenge when they get frustrated or paralyzed by fear of "messing up"? You bet! Do I find myself wishing they would just hurry up and do SOMETHING and stop talking about it? Of course. But at the same time, the pay dirt is when you see them get through something difficult and out the other side feeling like they've made something they can be proud of. It's getting the REST of the class to take their time and care about the outcome that is the REAL challenge!

  2. KitchenCounterChronicles says

    Thanks Mel, great information.

  3. Jenn O'Reilly says

    Look into the book "Ish" by Peter H. Reynolds. It's a wonderful story that has helped my perfectionist daughter tremendously, good luck!

    • Mel says

      That's an AWESOME book! Also: the book "Beautiful Oops" by Barney Saltzberg is great for helping break away from realism and toward "ish-ness". 🙂

  4. andie jaye says

    some of this sounds familiar to me. how good for your daughter's sake that she has a mom who is attentive and noticed. the way that you're dealing with it sounds quite beneficial to her.

    • KitchenCounterChronicles says

      thanks Andie

  5. Ali says

    Thanks so much for sharing this. When my daughter was 2/3 I stopped drawing 'things' for her as drawing sessions became her telling me what to draw. Instead I drew at her level - basic shapes, squiggles and scribbles.... and by doing this she started drawing again. I love your tip about focusing on abstract art.

    • KitchenCounterChronicles says

      Abstract art can be so rewarding! Thanks Ali.

  6. JDaniel4's Mom says

    My guy has been know to say "I quit" when things are going well. Thank you for this wonderful post.

    • KitchenCounterChronicles says

      Thanks!

  7. Amanda @RusticRemnants says

    This is absolutely my 4 1/2 year old. She can be so very hard on herself and it pains me to see her be so self critical. We try to do things in funny ways, like coloring with our toes to take some of the focus off being perfect.

    • KitchenCounterChronicles says

      What kid wouldn't want to colour with their toes!? Great idea Amanda.

  8. happyhooligans says

    Great post, Rebekah! I've only had one extreme perfectionist in my daycare in all these years. Ironically this child's mother would practically do cartwheels and give him an award anytime he did ANYTHING correctly. It was hi fives if he put on his coat, ridiculous amounts of praise over his artwork, as in: "oh my gosh "billy", are you a professional artist? This is so good, I actually thought a professional artist might have done it". If we did a craft it was "Are you kidding me? You did not make this craft, Jackie must have made this craft, right? You did? You made this? Because it is so amazing, I thought a grown up must have made it". Not even kidding. ALL THE TIME. Was it any wonder the child was such a perfectionist? He was borderline neurotic. So sad.

  9. happyhooligans says

    Oh shoot, and somehow, I was thinking this was Rebekah's post, Jen! So pretend that my first sentence says "great post, Jen!!" lol

    • KitchenCounterChronicles says

      No problem...I knew what you meant! Sometimes parents can get a little carried away. Sometimes I catch have to stop myself from expressing my amazement at the things she can do! Thanks for stopping by!

  10. happyhooligans says

    Ahhh, now I know why I thought it was Rebekahs: I'm catching up on all the "pin a friend's back" pins, and this was your POST, but pinned to Rebekah's BOARD! Now it all makes sense. I was thinking "How the HECK did I make THAT mistake?" lol

  11. MaryAnne K says

    She sounds a lot like one of my kids! And I have a sister who REALLY struggles with perfectionism. I love your advice!