With the school year drawing to a close, let’s have a serious conversation about an important topic.

The reason why we’re having it now is that it’s very relevant to the moment at hand.

Although, truth be told, this topic is always in play when it comes to your children.

Rather than just throwing the topic at you in a direct way, allow me to introduce it with the following example.

Earlier this week both the NHL and NBA crowned their champions for this season.

Hockey’s Las Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup and basketball’s Denver Nuggets claimed the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

There are two aspects related to these achievements that are worth noting.

The first aspect is that both of these teams won their respective league’s championship for the first time in their franchise’s history.

Does this mean that until now neither of these teams achieved success?

Simply put, of course not.

Success isn’t only measured by winning a championship, as there are many accomplishments a team and its players attain each year, championship or no championship.

The second aspect points us towards taking a look at the teams they beat in the finals.

Although hockey’s Florida Panthers and basketball’s Miami Heat came oh so close to winning the title, it doesn’t mean that their seasons weren’t a success.

In fact, they each had tremendous seasons during which they exceeded expectations.

Are they disappointed not to have won, I’m sure they are.

However, they each have much to be proud of for all that they achieved along the way.

This feeds into the important topic I referred to above.

With the school year coming to a close here’s what is going to occur.

Your child will receive a Progress Report or what we used to call a Report Card when we went to school as children.

Whether it’s a letter marking system, a numerical marking system or one that uses categories to indicate your children’s progress, it can be easy to boil down their success to those letters, numbers or categories.

However, much as each team has successful accomplishments they can point to whether they’ve won a championship or not, when it comes to your children it’s exactly the same.

Whether it’s an ADHD child, a child diagnosed with ASD or any other child, success is something all children achieve each year, each month and even each day.

The key is to step back for a moment to take a look at your child and upon doing so you’ll see their successes which you can then point out to them.

Highlighting and applauding their successes and achievements will give them a good feeling as well as motivate them to keep going.

Sure, year end Progress Reports have a purpose but the success your child has accomplished shouldn’t be solely based on what it says.

When it comes to raising your children it’s an ongoing journey without a fixed finish line.

With this in mind, it’s not about measuring success by ultimately winning a championship when all is said and done.

On the contrary, it’s about a series of successes and achievements very often done in baby step fashion, something which all children are doing on an ongoing basis.

Bringing this mindset to the end of the school year and its related Progress Report as well as to any other time of the year, will keep the focus where it should be.

In seeing it through this lens while also encouraging your children to see their successful accomplishments in this very same way, your children will feel like they’re winning the championship every single day.

Speaking of achieving success, with the school year winding down and the next one not that far down the road here’s something you can do to put your children on the path to success come September.

Here at Maxi Mind, we have focus through fun brain training courses which will make it easier for your children to succeed academically, socially and emotionally.

These courses will improve their ability to focus, organize and self-regulate to name but a few of the areas that will benefit while also strengthening the all-important area of self-confidence.

The best part about a Maxi Mind course is that they include exercise, music and video games as there are no school related activities involved such as reading, writing, math or homework.

To hear more about what these courses can do for your children you can check out the Maxi Mind Program page.