Growth Mindset and your child “If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. That way, their children don’t have to be slaves of praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence.” Professor Carol Dweck

What IS INTELLIGENCE? Are some people destined to be clever? Can you be intelligent in some ways, but not others? Can intelligence be measured? Can a person’s intelligence change? Do intelligent people always do well on tests? Do you consider yourself intelligent?

MINDSET theory People have a ‘fixed’ or ‘growth’ mindset towards their abilities, talent or knowledge. Professor Carol Dweck

hought

I’m good at I don’t think I could get better at I could get better at I’m not good at

Maths Public Speaking French Driving Dancing Table Tennis I’m good at I don’t think I could get better at I could get better at Dancing Table Tennis I’m not good at

How can we help foster growth mindset in our children? Messages children hear: You learned that so quickly! Don’t worry, I’m bad at maths too. If I don’t learn something quickly, I’m not clever. I was born like this. I shouldn’t bother trying because I’ll never be good at it.

How can we help foster growth mindset in our children? Messages children hear: Fantastic homework. You didn’t make any mistakes at all. You’re a natural at [insert skill] Mistakes are bad. Intelligence is a fixed thing inside me. Working hard at something isn’t as impressive.

How can we help foster growth mindset in our children? Messages children hear: Look at your sketch- you’ll be the next Picasso! You’re great at spelling! You didn’t even practise for that test. I shouldn’t try and draw anything hard, or they’ll see I’m not. If I practise at something and don’t do well, what will you think?

PROCESS PRAISE “I like the way you tried different strategies until you finally got it. You thought of different ways until you got it to work.” “I like way you took on that project. It took a lot of work doing research, thinking about the layout. You’re going to learn a lot of things from this which you can use again in the future.” I know you used to find school work easy and worry that bits are difficult now. But, the truth is you weren’t using your brain to its full power. I’m really excited that you’re stretching yourself now and working to learn hard things.” “That painting is really good. Tell me about it and how you did it” “I like the effort you put into that piece of work, but let’s work together some more and see if we can figure out what you didn’t understand.” “Well Done! You’re learning to…”

Be Honest! If they didn’t deserve to win a competition or prize, tell them. Don’t attribute blame to anyone else or say that you thought they were the best if it’s not true. Be Constructive Encourage them to improve at it, so they can do better next time, make a plan of how they will do this and stick to it. Be Positive Talk about the things they learned from the experience. Try not to let them read disappointment from the things you say or do, so that they associate failure with a negative effect on your relationship.