Learning to Fail (The Right Way)

By Mary Hannah Terzino

Earlier this year I visited a clever exhibition at our local arts center called “We Hope You Fail Better,” by Brad and Kristi Montague. The Montagues are children’s picture book creators who want exhibition visitors to embrace the inevitable failures that happen when we stick our necks out to try to make something, or to make something happen.

The exhibit included a wall of Post-It notes where visitors, many of them children, recorded some of their failures. Two o...