3 Tips To Foster a Growth Mindset in Your Child

We all have beliefs about our own abilities and potential. These beliefs form our mindset, which determines the actions we may or may not take as we make choices in life. Pioneering psychologist Carol Dweck, determined that a growth mindset is the belief that our intelligence and abilities can be improved with the right strategies and effort. On the contrary, a fixed mindset, is the belief that our intelligence and abilities cannot be changed and are simply innate.

Developing the right mindset early on in life is very important for establishing a successful, happy life. When children have the understanding that using the right strategies can help them improve, they will feel empowered, and in turn try harder. Our brains are capable of growth, when children understand this they tend to be more resilient, confident and less afraid of failure! Check out these three tips to empower your children to have a Growth Mindset.

1. Positive Self Talk
   
   In order to encourage a growth mindset in children, it is important to tell them frequently that their ‘brains can get stronger’. This is proven to be true and our brains are much more malleable than we ever knew. It is the beauty of our minds, that they can change, get stronger, learn from mistakes and strengthen. The more children believe this to be true, the more empowered they will feel to continue persisting. When children believe they can get smarter, they understand that effort makes them stronger. You got this!
   
   
2. Award Effort not Intelligence
   
   Try praising your child because of their efforts and hard work that went into the result achieved, rather than praising the result. A project that is achieved with great efforts should be rewarded more than a project achieved quickly and at great ease for the child. When we reward effort we are rewarding persistence, grit and hard work while reinforcing the Growth Mindset in our children.When a child does really well without putting in any effort, it is still quite important to pull back from praise such as “You’re so clever”. Instead, Dweck suggests telling the child, “That was easy for you, let's give you a challenge”.
   
   
3. Encourage a Positive Attitude to Failure
   
   Failure is an opportunity to learn and grow and we should remind our children of this by encouraging an open approach to failure. For example, imagine your child taking part in an engineering project, they may be building a bridge, the task being; ‘build the strongest, tallest bridge from LEGO’. Say a young child is seen rebuilding their bridge that had just collapsed under light weight. Instead of commenting on their bridge's failure, that child should be rewarded for their persistence. They could be encouraged to question the lesson they learned from the collapse, and empowered to rebuild a bridge that is even stronger than the one before. It is very beneficial for children to be in an environment where they are consistently encouraged to activate a growth mindset. This can be done by taking part in Clubs and Camps that encourage this mindset. Clubs that focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) topics naturally encourage the acceptance of challenge and persistence in problem solving with challenges akin to the bridge building example. Engaging children in activities in STEAM from a young age will sharpen their response to challenge, developing their growth mindset. They will see first-hand how their efforts impact results and will know the approach to be true. Ultimately, this will armour your child with a strong resilience, that they will take with them through life in future education and subsequent careers.