This is a collaborative post
Success largely comes down to mindset as it gives us the belief and confidence that we can make progress. A growth mindset is particularly important for children as it teaches them that investing time and effort can help them to improve, which in turn can help foster a good work ethic. In this post, we share tips from a top boarding school on how you can help your child develop one.
Set Goals
A good place to start is with some goals. Goals encourage children to look ahead and think about their future, whether that be a week, month, or a year from now. The idea is that it will get them to think about their actions, how they directly correlate and how they can get to where they want to be. SMART goals, which you already may be familiar with, help children to define their goals and in turn come closer to achieving them. The acronym stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed.
Focus On Effort and Not Results
That said, try focusing on effort and non-numerical ways of measuring success. This helps children to see the progress they’ve made and develop a “growth” mindset as opposed to being fixated on numbers and stopping once they get there.
Freedom to Fail
Mistakes are okay and they help us learn. Having a positive attitude to failure and mistakes is what’s going to help children to keep going when things become difficult, and they have obstacles in their way. You can help your child develop this attitude by the way you handle situations when things go wrong, and by providing reassurance or “freedom to fail” as they call it. The way that you deal with issues in your own life can influence their mindset so avoid being pessimistic in their presence.
Talk About Mistakes
It’s also important that they feel comfortable talking about their mistakes as it can help them gain feedback and learn from them.
Avoid Setting Unrealistic Expectations
Going back to goals, unrealistic expectations can add unnecessary stress, and hinder a child’s motivation. Instead, be realistic with the goals you set and expect of your child.
Be a Good Role Model
Children of course look up to their parents, so it goes without saying that you should set a good example. Have goals of your own, and invest time working on self-improvement and things that you can learn.
In addition to this, your child must be willing to wait and have patience as progress doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and consistency.