My 12-year-old was in a slump with baseball. Instead of making him feel better, I told him he wasn't putting in enough effort.

• My son was in a baseball slump, but I didn't want to say things just to make him feel better. • I decided to emphasize effort over results and told him he needed to practice more. • I think failure is a chance for growth, not a reflection of ability.

Ten at-bats. Ten outs. For my 12-year-old son, each strikeout felt heavier than the last. Baseball is a game built on failure — even the pros fall short most of the time — but for a kid, that kind of slump can feel like the end of the world. After struggling through multiple hitless games, he slumped into the car, feeling frustrated and defeated, and muttered, "I'm just not good at this anymore."

Many parents would have responded the way our parents likely responded to us.: By saying something along the lines of, "You're doing fine. Do