What is the growth mindset?

In the 2000s, Carol Dweck, professor of social psychology at Stanford University, decided to observe how people cope with failure and how students tackle difficult problems.

She then realizes that for some children, failure is something they enjoy because it represents a challenge to overcome. These children don't think they're failing, but they do think they're learning!

Drawing on decades of research, Carol Dweck wrote a book entitled "Dare to succeed! Change your mindset", in which she explains that there are two types of people: those with a growth mindset and those with a fixed mindset.

• The fixed mindset means believing that your qualities, aptitudes and personality are genetically determined at birth, and that you can't change much. But neuroscience has shown that nothing is determined, and that our brains are designed to develop and learn.
• The development mindset, on the other hand, is the belief that your qualities are first and foremost developed through hard work, and that everyone can improve through hard work and application.

To sum up, the aim of the growth mindset is to learn in order to progress!

The Growth mindset enables us to have goals in life, to give it meaning. Mistakes, if indeed they have a learning purpose, are not to be avoided, but observed and analyzed in order to progress and succeed. The efforts and strategies used in response to these mistakes are then recognized.

This mentality of development and growth reduces the stress associated with, for example, school assessments. In your children's eyes, school becomes a place of learning, not performance, so mistakes are accepted.

At the international conference of the Conseil Scientifique de l'Éducation Nationale, the benefits of the "Growth Mindset" were put forward for Acting on social inequalities from school to higher education.

By helping your kid to cultivate his Growth mindset, you'll be helping your kid to have a mindset that pushes him to learn, to pick himself up and to excel when he fails. It's a kind of motivation for kids.

⤵️Voici some ways to help him develop a development mindset:

Help him change his view of error and failure

Show him that it's okay not to be able to do something, that it happens to everyone.
Example: If he gets a bad mark, ask him what he's learned from the mistakes he's made.

Praise efforts and actions rather than successes

Your child needs to feel encouraged in order to be more motivated.
Example: Tell him, "It's good you tried!"

Help them develop their skills by experimenting, testing and challenging themselves.

Example: Try a new activity, find new ways to learn your child's lessons.

Teach your child to set several small goals

The technique of small steps, rather than one big one.
Example: Make a jigsaw puzzle of 50 pieces, then 100, then 250, then 500.

Share any failures or difficulties you experienced at the same age.

Example: you've had to train harder than your best friend to progress in your favourite sport.

We hope you find our tips useful.

The Soft Kids team 🌈