Archive for month: April, 2014

5 Growth Mindset Related Things to Teach Your Kids When They’re Not In School

Whether you’re homeschooling, private schooling or public schooling your kids, instilling a growth mindset in them is something that goes beyond the regular handwriting practice and reading routines.

As we’ve discovered in our earlier posts, growth mindset can be key for a child’s overall mental development and attitude through life.

Here are 5 things you can teach your kids to instill this belief system and mindset in them as part of their after-school learning:

Value Their Effort When They Play a Sport of Colour a Picture

The next time your child plays a game of baseball or brings a picture they’ve coloured for you, don’t laud them with empty praise “You’re the next Picasso” or “You were great on the field”. Instead, praise the effort they’ve made. “You really worked hard on that” or “You tried some new moves this time ”

Ask Them What They Learnt When You Finish Reading with Them

Reading books can be great fun  and when you pair it with asking them what they learnt from the books, you can encourage kids to explore and stretch their minds to find meaning and lessons while making it one of the most interesting growth mindset activities. “What did you learn from this?” or “Did you see how [name of character] didn’t give up because the task was too hard?”

Encourage Exploring Complex Puzzles and Applaud Effort, Not Result

Don’t bring out the puzzles that are the easiest, all the time. Instead, encourage kids to stretch their potential and try out the more complicated ones and appreciate their efforts in trying to put them together.

Kids who get used to hearing “you’re smart!” lack the willingness to explore more challenging tasks because for them failure equals to lack of smartness. Instead, raising children who believe that trying hard and making the effort is more important are willing to actually grow their talents and intelligence.

Play Board Games and Help Kids Be Inquisitive About Mistakes

Growth mindset lesson plans can be a s fun as Playing a board game! Watch for opportunities to help children learn from their mistakes and help instill a growth mindset. Instead of trying to sugar coat or tough talk, you need to balance how you help them deal with defeat, errors and obstacles.

Be a Good Growth Mindset Role Model

Finally and most importantly, be a good growth mindset role model and avoid placing labels on yourself “I was never good at math”, for instance.

When at the dinner table, highlight instances where you learnt something by exploring, challenging yourself and asking for help. Ask them what would they want to learn or practice or get better at each week.

In teaching growth mindsets to kids it’s important to encourage the process, rather than merely appreciate the outcome.

Do you share any growth mindset quotes or growth mindset videos with your kids?

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