How to help kids boost their growth mindset

The growth mindset is what helps us grow. In order to see the glass as half full in the things we do every day, we must first understand what the growth mindset is to know that we always It will be better than the fixed mindset -which gets us nowhere and even makes us feel bad about ourselves-. Next, I want to explain how being your children’s go-to adult can help them boost their growth mindset.

Pay attention to efforts over results

A hard-earned goal should always be rewarded before something that is achieved without effort. For example, you can motivate him with phrases like: ‘Study hard for this exam and your grades show it, congratulations!’ Or maybe: ‘It was a difficult task but you didn’t give up. You followed your path and after working hard, you did it. I loved the way you kept trying different things until you found something that worked. That’s how it’s done’.

It enhances persistence

Every time you want to achieve something, you have to work hard to achieve the goal, that is, it is necessary to be persistent. This doesn’t mean you should praise your child every time he does something, but it will mean a lot to them if you let him know that he notices. Words will be your best ally: ‘You’re working hard, very well’.

Be specific with praise

When you want to praise your child, you need to be specific. Instead of saying something general like ‘You’re very smart’, you can say things like: ‘It was very smart to experiment in different ways until you solved the problem, good job!’.

This way he will know exactly what you are praising him for and that your words really mean something to him .

Foster a healthy attitude to failure and challenge

You need to talk to your children about failure and challenges in terms of them being an opportunity to learn and grow. You can use the word ‘yet’ to refer that with practice and persistence good results will come. When your child tells you words like: ‘I don’t know how to do it’, you can encourage them to replace it with: ‘I don’t know how to do it yet’. In this way, if you encourage them to keep doing what they are doing, they will soon learn to do things for themselves… inner dialogue is the most powerful.

Helping kids empower their growth mindset

The road is not straight

Stumbling blocks are part of the road and only part of learning. Learning takes time and will never be on the right track. The paths are crooked, interesting and full of great opportunities. A path will teach us the things we do well, but also the things we do poorly and we must improve and learn from them.

Success does not always mean being well

Children do not learn what what they are told, they learn what they see. When they have a problem you will have to talk to them and tell them that things are learned especially when they do not go as expected. If things take an unexpected turn, interesting things should be seen because we are on a different path that will teach us many things. Failure is part of learning and has nothing to do with being smarter or more capable. It is an opportunity to learn.

When things are done well without effort

For a student who does things well without effort, it is important to set goals that make them feel the challenge and well-being of achieving something new. Effort must be worked from childhood, that way they will realize how important it is in life.

When they put effort but they don’t do it well

If your child has worked hard but they have not achieved what they wanted, forget the results and consider the effort they have made. This will help you build their confidence, stamina, and motivation to keep learning and working hard. You can say something like: ‘I really liked the effort you are putting in. Let’s see how we improve it next time.’

Allow it to fail

Teach your child to take learning anxiety and trade it for love. Give your children permission to make mistakes, this will help them expand their willingness to take risks and to experiment to do things differently. You’ll be helping him expand his creativity, problem solving, and willingness to take on new challenges.