Kids often say they don’t want to do anything because they fear failure. They won’t even try unless they know they can succeed first. Though this might seem like a normal reaction for kids, it has adverse effects on their growth mindset and is one reason kids stay in the same place.
In order to help them grow into confidence and success, parents should encourage their children with a growth mindset. It is an attitude of mind where a child learns to develop their skills and aims to improve their experiences. Developing this mindset can help your child succeed in school, future careers, and life.
This article will explain a growth mindset, why it is important, and how parents can help their kids develop it.
What Is A Growth Mindset?
Each of us holds beliefs about our abilities, the future, and the world. This is known as our mindset. Whether people believe they are good at something or bad at it shows in their attitude and behavior. Mindset shapes the way we approach our work, study, and learning.
Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck first introduced the concept of a growth mindset. According to her, there are two types of mindsets:
A growth mindset is defined as a belief that people can change themselves and their abilities through training, education, or hard work. This type of mindset believes in opportunities for growth, learning, and improvement. A person with this mindset believes that challenges are opportunities to move forward. This mindset focuses on learning from mistakes instead of feeling bad about them.
On the other hand, a fixed mindset is the opposite of a growth mindset. People with fixed mindsets believe that people are born with skills that they don’t have to work hard to improve. This mindset helps people not learn from mistakes and feel powerless to change shortcomings in their abilities.
The difference between these mindsets is clear in the values each person places on learning, goals, and actions they take. In a fixed mindset, people see growth or improvement as a threat to attaining their goals.
Why Is Growth Mindset So Important?
What we think about ourselves, what we believe in, and what we want to achieve are influenced by our mindset. Your mindset determines your approach to work, study, and other aspects of life.
Developing your kids’ growth mindset can change the way they approach their schoolwork, personal goals, and how they affect their life. It creates an environment where they always seek opportunities to learn and improve.
Building a healthy growth mindset produce the following:
1. Better performance in school
Growth-minded children perform better in school and are more satisfied with their learning. Academic achievement is more likely sustained than children with a fixed mindset.
Kids with a growth mindset were more likely to feel better about their learning in school. They described their schoolwork as interesting, meaningful, and interesting to them. Learning experiences were viewed as a chance to achieve mastery and improve their skills. This growth mindset can help kids succeed in the classroom.
2. Better relationships
Being confident in themselves boosts their self-esteem. Self-esteem is the level of personal worth a person has. It affects how you feel about yourself and how you act toward others. A growth mindset can help kids develop better relationships at home and in the community. Having the right mentality lets children realize their strengths and limitations. This knowledge helps them evaluate their traits, behaviors, and actions and take actions to improve.
3. Better opportunities
Growth-minded individuals view challenges as opportunities for growth and change. They believe that becoming good at something requires hard work. They also think that learning and improvement are lifelong events. The skills they learn in childhood can be used later in life.
Building a growth mindset among kids can help them succeed in the future.
Phrases Related To Mindset: Growth vs. Fixed
Knowing how to psych yourself up or talk yourself down is a skill that can be learned. Knowing when to use the right phrase can help you in many ways.
These are some phrases related to mindset:
Growth Mindset:
- I can learn anything
- This is a challenge I can meet
- I can do it, so why not?
- I enjoy the challenge
- When I fail, I simply try again
- I will do better next time
These growth mindset phrases are useful because they encourage the child to be optimistic about learning and try to see failure as a chance for improvement.
Fixed Mindset:
- I don’t want to try anything new because it’s too hard.
- There’s no way I can do that. Why even bother?
- I’ll never be good at it.
- I don’t want to get hurt. It’s not worth it.
- Tell me I’m clever
- Give me the easy stuff
- I am already good at this.
These fixed mindset phrases are not good because they discourage the child from trying anything new. The term also makes them feel worse about themselves.
How To Develop The Growth Mindset In Your Kids
As a parent, you can help your child build a growth mindset through many activities. The following tips will assist you in effectively teaching your children how to develop the right way of thinking.
1. PRAISE EFFORT, NOT ABILITY
When you’re praising your kid, focus on the effort they put into their work rather than the outcome. The former helps them understand that they can learn from their mistakes and improve, while the latter can make it seem like it’s impossible to get better at something if you don’t already have a talent for it.
Here are the two steps in praising effort:
1. Use Positive Reinforcement
When your child does something well, express your encouragement by offering positive reinforcement.
- That’s great. You worked really hard on that!
- That’s awesome. You really tried hard.
- I admire how hard you worked on that.
- Wow! You did it! You’re pretty good at that.
- We were proud of you. We knew you could do it.
This way of praising helps your child understand that you appreciate their effort. They’ll be encouraged to keep trying and learn from the process.
2. Point Out The Action
Rephrase your positive reinforcement as a skill. This will make your praise more specific while at the same time showing that you appreciate their efforts. Be sure to base your recognition on what they did, not on their actions’ results.
For instance, say, “The way you worked on that was amazing! I could see how hard you tried.” Then, offer your thanks to them.
2. GIVE THEM A REASON TO HAVE FAITH
Faith is a huge part of a growth mindset because it gives children the confidence and belief that they can accomplish anything if they believe in themselves. So when you’re talking to your kids about growth mindset, try to give them a reason to have faith.
Kids with fixed mindsets don’t believe in themselves and are pessimistic about the tasks they face. As parents, you can give them a reason to have faith. Teach them to believe in themselves and that they can learn anything if they try hard enough.
For example: “You know what? I think you can do this!” or “I believe in you!” or “I know you can do it!” These words can lift your children’s spirits and help them believe in themselves.
3. MODEL A GROWTH MINDSET
Kids with a fixed mindset find it hard to accept that they can change if surrounded by people who want to teach them the opposite. As parents, you are the ones who have a huge influence on your kids’ growth mindset, so make sure that you show them examples of it by using it yourself and including others who have shown amazing growth when facing challenges.
Culturing a growth mindset has been strongly associated with greater happiness and achievement in life.
4. HELP THEM SEE THE BENEFITS OF FAILURE
Failure is a part of life, and it’s important to help your child understand why learning from failures is beneficial. You’ll need to explain that learning from challenges and mistakes is just as important as doing something perfectly. Show your kids how to adapt and grow through it all.
A willingness to take on challenges, passion for learning, and persistence are all the key ingredients to success. These qualities will help your child see that failure can be a learning tool and avoid it when possible.
You can learn and develop the right mindset by showing the benefits of having one.
5. SET BETTER MEASURES TO INCREASE MOTIVATION
When your child doesn’t experience the right motivation, they’ll struggle to learn. Some kids will become discouraged and give up easily if they don’t see immediate results in the learning process, so set better measures to increase motivation for them so they don’t get discouraged easily. Let them explore their qualities and interests, so they can discover their own strengths and weaknesses, then learn what works for them.
Motivate them by building goals and maximizing their potential by setting realistic targets.
6. PRACTICE SMALL STEPS TO IMPROVE
Take small steps instead of making big leaps. It’s important to help your child understand that change or improvement happens slowly. In other words, instead of trying to improve everything at once, focus on one aspect at a time and make sure you’re perfecting it before moving on to the next step.
You can also explain to them that if they want to be someone who gets things done properly and well, they’ll need to put in the right amount of effort. Lastly, tell them that any skill or ability comes with practice and repetition.
Conclusion
It’s important to remember that even the most confident people have a growth mindset, so it’s okay if your child doesn’t believe they can succeed initially. They’ll grow in confidence and have a better perspective as they become more determined and motivated to accomplish their goals.
Are you having difficulty improving your child’s fixed mindset? Or are you looking for ways to help your child develop their growth mindset?
NY Baby Steps is perfect for you! We use research-based strategies to help you focus on your child’s strengths, interests, and potential. Instead of focusing on what they can already do or have done, we turn their attention to future steps.
We provide a safe and loving environment that helps kids to develop a growth mindset. Our unique curriculum goes beyond academic skills, encouraging your child to become who they want to be and discover their strengths.
We offer a variety of different strategies to make learning fun. We implement them through games, music, and other interactive tools that help your child learn and make them love learning as much as you do.
Give us a chance to show you what we can do! Don’t hesitate to contact us today!
