Why Summer Wipeouts, Science Fails, and Scraped Knees Are the Secret Ingredients to Building Resilient Kids

The Power of Summer Adventures

Summer is here—and with it comes the freedom of longer days, scraped knees, wipeouts on skate ramps, and sunburned shoulders from long beach days. If you’re a parent of a kid who loves to surf, skate, or build wild contraptions in the backyard, you know summer isn’t just a season—it’s a state of mind.

But here's something we often forget to celebrate about summer: it’s a perfect laboratory for failure.

Yup. You read that right.

Failure—the kind that teaches, stretches, humbles, and grows our kids into who they’re becoming.

Summer adventures like surfing, skateboarding, and hands-on STEAM projects are essential in building resilient kids. Learn why failure, creativity, and courage matter more than perfection.

Failure Is Not the Opposite of Success—It’s the Path To It

In our Surf Skate Science programs, we focus heavily on the science of movement, the engineering behind skateboards and surfboards, and the physics that make tricks possible. But the most powerful force we teach might just be resilience.

Every skater falls. Every surfer wipes out. Every scientist will have an experiment blow up in their face. What defines them is what they do next.

Consider Thomas Edison—he failed over 1,000 times before inventing the lightbulb. Or take Bethany Hamilton, the pro surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack yet returned to the water just one month later. Let’s not forget Rodney Mullen, the skateboarding legend who transformed the sport after being told he was too weird and different. They all kept moving forward.

This Summer, Let’s Make Space for That Kind of Learning

As parents, you can turn this summer into a resiliency bootcamp—without ever using the word “bootcamp.” Here’s how:

🔬 1. Embrace STEAM Projects That Fail Gloriously

Instead of creating a perfect Pinterest craft, try a project where failure is expected. Some ideas include:

• Build a cardboard skateboard and test how much weight it can hold before collapsing.

• Create a wave tank and experiment with surfboard and fin shapes.

• Engineer a ramp, calculate speed, and predict trajectory.

  
  

The more important factor? Let your kids own the process. Ask them what didn’t work and what they’d try next. Focus on curiosity, not perfection.

Tip: Have your kids research inventors and athletes who faced failure before succeeding. Look up “Skateboarding tricks that took years to land” or “Famous inventions that failed first.” Then, let them create their own “failure resume.”

🛹 2. Celebrate Wipeouts and Re-dos

When your child falls off their board, struggles with their artwork, or can’t get their robot to turn left, don’t rush to fix it. Instead, try this approach:

• Say: “What did you learn?”

• Ask: “Let’s figure this out together.”

• Encourage them: “Awesome fail. Try again.”

  
  

The more we normalize failure, the more fearless our kids will become.

Tip: Keep a “Wipeout Wall” or “Epic Fail Journal” this summer. Fill it with funny stories, photos, or drawings of experiences that didn’t go as planned. Make failing a part of your family culture.

🏄‍♂️ 3. Resist Shortcuts—Let the Process Work

In skating, surfing, and science, there is no shortcut to mastery. It takes time to learn balance. It requires many hours of trial and error to land a trick. Similarly, in STEM, if engineering a structure, it takes effort to learn why it might have collapsed instead of standing strong.

Shortcuts rob kids of the learning process. Model patience. When they’re stuck, avoid jumping in to solve the problem—coach them through the journey instead.

Tip: Choose one project or skill to work on all summer. This could be reading five bios of resilient athletes, learning a new skate trick, cooking a recipe from another country, or writing their own comic. The key is to select something challenging yet meaningful. Celebrate progress, not perfection. Remind them that growth happens in the struggle.

The Benefits of Teamwork and Collaboration

Summer is not a time to “coast”—it’s a valuable opportunity to try, stretch, risk, and explore. Real-world learning doesn’t stop when school ends; it ramps up. Encourage your kids to collaborate with friends on projects or challenges. Working together can enhance learning experiences and help them overcome obstacles.

When children team up, they learn valuable skills such as communication, cooperation, and compromise. These life skills will benefit them long after summer ends, serving them well in academics and future careers.

💬 A Final Word to Parents

You don’t need a degree in engineering to raise resilient kids. You just need to show up. Let your kids fall. Let them try. Let them cry when something doesn't work—and encourage them to try again the next day.

Your role isn’t to smooth the path—it’s to walk beside them as they learn to navigate the bumps.

Being brave doesn’t mean your child isn’t afraid. It means they show up anyway.

It means they try again after falling.

It means they lean into the challenge, not away from it.

And they do it knowing you believe in them—not for being perfect, but for being persistent.

So this summer, whether you're on the shoreline cheering them on, at the skatepark refilling water bottles, or at the kitchen table with glue and scissors—remember this: every great story starts with a fall.

The question is, will we teach our kids to get back up?