100 pieces

Sometimes I don't know if I push too hard... there is a part of me that thinks I should let things happen organically and other times when I think I need to push... encourage... In teaching we refer to it as scaffolding but as a parent I don't want to push so hard that my kids don't enjoy what they are doing. But then again, there is that part of me that thinks, they won't really enjoy it until they are good at it (which reminds me of a quote that I read in a book entitled, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother). So let's get to the point. I bought Noah a 100 piece Spongebob Puzzle. I knew it was going to be challenging (not only for Noah to solve it but to keep all the pieces together). On the box it says, 5+, which Noah also noticed. But I decided to give it to him anyway. He stumbled a bit here and there, he whined, he wanted to give up, but I made him (encouraged him) to finish. I even had to help, just a little, and once he got into the groove, he was fine. He didn't want my help any further and he ended up finishing this bad boy of a puzzle. You can see the satisfaction on his face in the photo... but did I do the right thing to continue to push even when he wanted to stop, who knows???