Teaching Our Kids About Mindset
I believe our mindset shapes whether we believe we can learn, change and grow or not. I’m saying this because I want to teach my children about mindset even as young as they are. Growing up, kids go through a lot of changes not only physically but most especially mentally and emotionally. And I believe mindset is key to addressing every issue they can encounter growing up.
In this episode, I would like to share with you how we can teach our kids about mindset. There are two kinds of mindsets, a fixed mindset, and a growth mindset. I would like to share my views because it's not only important to teach our kids this whole concept of mindset, but it's so important for us parents to model the right behavior for our kids. Let’s dive into knowing their differences and how we can help our children learn and improve their mindsets.
What’s The Difference?
I read a book called Mindset by Carol Dweck. And I just love how she explained the differences. She explains that our physical characteristics are predetermined from the start, and we have very little control over our body features but what about intellectual and physical abilities? Are they inherited or can they be learned? Just like our episode last week, to master a skill you at least have to invest 10,000 hours of practice.
these two are like extremes from the basis of the concept of fixed mindset versus growth mindset. That's what I've been explaining to my kids, what we are born with and what we don't have control over but can be learned. Acquiring talent or acquiring a skill is about a growth mindset. it's something that can be learned.
Fixed Mindset
People with a fixed mindset believe that talent is king. When a person is born with all these abilities, gifts, and talents, they're just set into stone. And a person by nature is either intelligent and talented or stupid and incompetent. People with a fixed mindset believe they can only do things they show a natural ability for, and that practice certainly does not make any improvements, it just doesn't add any value.
That's why we have to ensure that we model this mindset for our kids because at the end of the day, we as parents don't wish our kids to be stuck in this mindset. We don't want our kids to feel that Just because they were not born with certain gifts or talents, they cannot learn that. We want our kids to grow up acquire any skills they want to acquire and become good at it, improve, and not get stuck with being perfect.
Growth Mindset
Research shows that children with a growth mindset if given a difficult math problem, for example, jump at the challenge and want to do more of those problems, even at home. They recognize that the more problems they solve, the more they learn, and the faster they get at solving the problem. They feel that the sky's the limit when it comes to life's possibilities.
And so it’s hard to define their precise degree of intelligence and let alone predict what it may be tomorrow. Their grades may reflect their status at one point in the time but these kids believe that they can learn more with hard work, dedication, and perseverance.
It's not about just hoping or wishing, rather it's about practicing. Sometimes we fail, but it's all about improving our skills.
We Have A Choice
Some people might not be fortunate enough to learn the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. It could be because we acquired the fixed mindset because of surrounding societal pressure or we’ve been in this mindset for a long time, but we can always choose. We always have the opportunity to choose and change.
As parents, we need to understand that this is a practice. It's not about being a perfect parent, but it's about improving our skills. It's about being better every day than what we were yesterday. When we are in a growth mindset when we acquire a growth mindset as parents, we want to encourage our kids to continue learning and acquiring new skills.
When we're in the growth mindset, growth and development are what happen every moment of the time. Let's evaluate ourselves as parents, and teach our children that they always have the power to choose their mindset, they have a choice to grow.
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