Would you be surprised if we say you can develop children’s intelligence with training and practice? A growth mindset means believing that we can develop our intelligence. Dr. Carol Duke, a researcher at Stanford University, coined the term “growth mindset.” In this article, we talk about cultivating a growth mindset in children. Stay with us.
Why is it essential to develop a growth mindset in children?
Success, ability, intelligence, talent, and skill affect a growth mindset. A growth mindset encourages the child to learn and face new challenges. Children with a growth mindset do better than children with a fixed mindset.
Comparison of growth mindset and fixed mindset
A growth mindset means believing that your brain can grow and you can learn many new things. You are not born intelligent; you become competent. A fixed mindset is the exact opposite, meaning you believe you can’t learn new things. With this mentality, you think you are born with specific knowledge and skills and cannot get more competent.
The brain is like a muscle, and just like when you lift weights to strengthen your muscles, your brain gets bigger and stronger with exercise.
Children with a growth mindset have an “I can” attitude. These children see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. Phrases such as “I can’t do it,” “I’m not good at it,” and “It’s too hard” are not among these children’s statements, and instead, they say, “It’s hard, but I’m trying,” or “I can learn to How can I do this!”
In this approach, instead of considering challenges as obstacles, we see them as opportunities for growth. Adults must focus on the process children go through to acquire a skill rather than the result.
How to cultivate a growth mindset in our child?
The solutions we propose in this section are mostly related to school and doing homework, but they help solve any problem in life; It’s good to make a growth mindset a holistic approach, not just limited to schoolwork.
1. Teach your child to accept mistakes and failures
Fear of failure makes starting a new activity seem more difficult than usual. If your child fails in studies, play, or any other activity, never blame him. Punishing and scolding him will frustrate him, and he has no desire to start again.
If you teach your child that failure and making mistakes are part of life, and that it is okay to fail sometimes, you will give him the necessary energy to face new challenges. This is how he understands where his work is flawed and what causes failure; This information will be helpful for him in any period of his life.
2. Teach your child to try new ideas and approaches to problem-solving
Different problems and tasks require different strategies and solutions. If your child has a particular issue or challenge, ask him what other solution he knows to solve it. Never try to solve his problem by yourself because by doing this, you will take away the opportunity to think and find a solution.
If your child is stuck in a particular problem, help him to try another way to solve the problem or complete his work. Ask him what other resources he can use to help solve the problem. For example, if he wants to solve a textbook problem, he can find the method of solving such issues from the textbook guide or online websites or ask his friends how they solved it.
3. Teach your child to do his best to solve problems
Some issues require more effort. Remember advanced math classes in high school? All trials had to be resolved in several stages. If your child struggles to solve a complex issue, ask the teacher to try harder instead of telling him to stop and ask the teacher how to solve the problem.
In multi-step problems, the other steps are usually determined automatically by performing the initial step. Let your child know that analyzing the situation and taking the first steps to solve it is the most important thing to do.
4. Let him know that his mistakes will help him develop his mind
Dr. Carol Duke tells teachers, “Always remind students that mistakes grow their minds.”
According to Dr. Duke, when someone quickly finds the answer to a problem or the solution to a problem, he has used the knowledge he already had and is not learning anything. But when someone makes a mistake, he is forced to find the reason for his error; in this process, he knows new and valuable things.
If your child sincerely accepts that his mistakes are developing his mind, not only will he no longer be afraid of making mistakes, but he will work harder to achieve success.
5. Teach your child to pay attention to his approaches to problem-solving
How is your child’s approach to studying? Are you looking to understand your learning or want to solve your homework fully? See what technique he uses when he wants to answer a question. You can ask your child how he found the solution to the problem or praise him for thinking and finding the right way to solve the problem.
Paying attention to the problem-solving approach and thinking deeply about it will strengthen his creative problem-solving skills, which will be helpful later in his life.
6. Teach your child to talk about his mistakes
After you have taught your child not to be afraid of making mistakes, you need to give him the courage to talk about his mistakes. This will make your child feel comfortable with you and learn to talk about his mistakes with others and even ask others for help.
With this approach, he realizes that what he’s tried before didn’t work. When your child knows his mistakes, he will try to look for practical solutions and not waste his time on useless efforts.
Also, in this process, he learns valuable skills to cooperate and can interact well with others in the future.
7. Remember that you will not always have a 100% growth mindset
A growth mindset may be a general way to learn to solve challenging problems, but sometimes you won’t succeed. If your efforts to nurture your child’s growth mindset aren’t working, don’t blame yourself. No one is perfect all the time. Striving for growth mindset feedback is more important than perfection.
This is also true for children. Even though your child’s teachers believe every child can improve their intelligence through learning, some days, your child may not be able to cope. Please don’t blame him; remind him to keep trying.
Questions to start a conversation with your child and develop a growth mindset
Getting children to “think about their thinking” fosters their growth mindset, as can discussing challenges and failures.
You can use the following questions to start a conversation about growth mindset techniques:
- “What is your mind telling you now? If he tells you that you can’t do it, tell him I will try to do it.”
Self-talk is very important and improves self-confidence and self-efficacy. - “Where is the hard part? How can you overcome it?”
Having children identify the hard part of the problem makes them realize that the whole activity is not complex and maybe only part of it is hard. - “Tell me some of the challenges you’ve overcome before.”
Discussing past challenges and showing that they have been overcome makes it easier to empower a child. - “What trick did you use to overcome the challenges?”
Paying attention to all the strategies and tricks he has used in the past reminds the child that he has the tools to succeed. - “What mistake did you make that taught you something?”
If the child realizes that mistakes teach us, he will not be afraid of making mistakes. - “What problem did you face today? What trick did you use to solve it?”
Asking your child this question daily prepares him to anticipate each day’s challenges.
last word
It is important to remember that this mindset develops over time and does not happen instantly. Be patient and give your child the opportunity to trial and error.
What other strategies have you used to develop your child’s growth mindset? Please share your valuable comments and experiences with us and our dear users.
Warning! This article is only for educational purposes; to use it, it is necessary to consult a doctor or specialist.
