A positive growth mindset is a belief in our abilities and intelligence that can be improved with effort and the right strategies. It is important for children as it helps them to think of achieving success and not live a mediocre type of life.
When children have a growth mindset, they take failures in a positive way, find opportunities to grow and learn something from them and overcome hurdles and challenges by expanding their abilities and skills.
A growth mindset has a spirit of curiosity to learn more and gain knowledge and confidence to deal with difficult situations with patience.
As per Tokyo international school, having a growth mindset helps children, not to give up easily but to figure out solutions to any problems using different strategies or new approaches until they have found success.
Such students perform well in all walks of life and find success in all endeavours.
Children are born curious and have a natural growth mindset but it has to be encouraged periodically to make them use it and stick to this habit for life-long or else it would be just wasted.
Encouraging them from the beginning will make it easier to instil habits in them rather than asking them to change their habits in later years.
Children's eyes light up when they learn new things even if it's little things such as clapping, listening to music, colouring, etc. The good thing about children is that when they learn things they do not overthink success or failure.
They just learn and enjoy the process which adults fail to do, therefore it becomes necessary to encourage children from the beginning or put them into the habit of trying new things which they can carry out for the rest of their life.
Being parents, it's our responsibility to nurture their love of learning as they grow and help them not to attach feelings of worth to the outcome of an event.
Children with a fixed mindset are scared to try new things in the first place and easily get frustrated if they fail in trying to do so. Their fear of failure is stronger than the desire to learn new things and they do not believe in their abilities or efforts that can bring changes.
So how can parents encourage their children to have a growth mindset? Here are some simple tips that can help you set them up for lifelong success.
Let’s get straight into detail.
As you know children learn from their surroundings, they soak up information easily and mimic them. So provide them with surroundings like elementary school in Japan where teachers become their role models and at home, you can be their role model.
Let them see that you are trying new things and they will be more ready to accept challenges. Make sure you are not pretending but actually improving yourself and doing things so that you can help them later.
Teach them that the obstacles should be embraced in order to learn lessons from them.
Another thing parents need to make sure of is that they change the way they praise their children. For eg:- If your child has done a maths problem correctly, do not tell them.
“You got all maths problems correct, is it just coincidence or are you really so smart?”
Instead tell them “Wow, you got all the maths problems correct; you have studied really hard and have understood the concept. I appreciate your hard work!”.
In the first example, you are making your child doubt their abilities and in the second you are encouraging them by appreciating their efforts.
Encourage them to try new things, provide them lots of opportunities in the home through different work materials, toys, games, and activities, and take them to playgrounds, gardens, and malls so that they can enjoy different experiences.
Tokyo international school teachers help children not to be afraid or shy and explain to them that even if they fail or stumble upon things, they should keep trying and everyone around them will be proud of them.
If they are stuck on something, give them some time to do it on their own and later help them to find solutions by asking them to try new approaches.
Discover How the Montessori Method can Transform Your Child’s Life.
If your child is saying “I’m unable to do it”, or is saying “It’s too hard” or “I don’t know how to do it” then teach them not to say such things, instead, tell them they should use positive affirmations like “It's easy and I'm able to do it” frequently.
Teach your child positive affirmations when they feel like giving up as it helps to give confidence and motivation.
Teach them to look at the problem in a different way, ask them to try new approaches, and let them know that it’s okay if they fail the first time but ask them to keep trying. Be their cheerleader, let them know that they are capable of doing things and can overcome challenges.
If your child is a little older where they can understand the things you are telling them then sit with them and tell them why they always insist on having growth mindsets.
Give them easy examples for better understanding. For eg:- Give them an example of plants as in how they grow from small seeds into plants and how they flower later on.
Explain to them that they are seeds and they have to become plants and keep growing in order to gain the rewards (flowers) and be successful in life.
In an elementary school in Japan, teachers explain to students that they have the power to be anything in this world, it's just that they need to explore different things, pursue their passion, and keep learning, growing and evolving.
You can even tell them stories of other people and how they have become so successful in spite of hurdles and challenges. You can even read books to them to inspire them.
Some children have 3 fears:
● Fear of not knowing.
● Fear of trying new things.
● Fear of failure.
So asking your child what's bothering them will help you to bring out solutions accordingly.
You can remind them of past wins or incidents if any when they didn't know anything but they tried to do new things which led to success later. You can even give examples of real-life situations.
Celebrate wins even if it's a small ones as it encourages students to do more and motivates them. Celebrating wins is one way of appreciating their efforts in trying new things. Make sure you praise the process and not the result.
Put them in schools that provide various extracurricular activities which help children to explore various activities, know their strengths and weaknesses and help them to maximise their potential or work on the things they lack.
Check for any opportunities for learning new things and enrol them on workshops, courses, weekend activities, etc, so they try different things and learn. But do not force anything on them, let them try and if it doesn't interest them then ask them to try new things.
Try new things together as it will be fun for a child to learn with you and it will give them confidence. Knowing that their parents also try new things and learn from them will help them to understand that there is nothing wrong with trying new things.
Instead, they will develop the habit of exploring things by watching you. For eg:- Try different things such as tasting different kinds of food, learning to sketch, trying different games or courses and then sharing experiences with each other.
If your child lacks something, helping them in preparation can be the way to overcome those challenges.
For eg:- If your child has the fear of public speaking or doing presentations, then teach them to take small steps each day to reach the goals. Slowly and gradually it will remove their fears.
● Step 1:- Ask them to create content they want to speak about or prepare a note.
● Step 2:- Ask them to prepare in front of the mirror.
● Step 3:- Ask them to do public speaking or presentation in front of you or their friends.
● Step 4:- Ask some of the family members to be there at home and let them do it in front of them. Make sure to ask family members to encourage and make fun of them.
All these small simple steps will prepare them to overcome their fears and encourage them to take such opportunities regularly so that they will get into the habit of doing it fiercely and face their fear of large audiences.
The goal of schools in Tokyo is to prepare your child to face their fears and come out confident. Knowing how to deal with fears and overcome them is a sign of a growth mindset.
Remember kids who feel safe and are appreciated in the family tend to become more successful than the ones who feel they are a burden or unhelpful. So make them feel important, loved, cared and appreciated and provide the right environment.
Establishing a growth mindset in children is all about letting them make mistakes, helping them to understand the learning from it, not feeling discouraged if failed, praising their efforts and always encouraging them to learn from challenges and hurdles and keep growing.
Help them to learn all these things as early as possible, instil all these habits mostly in their childhood so that they follow them throughout their lives and do not struggle in life to adapt to new changes or feel fear to try new things.
How is Japanese Kindergarten curriculum unique?
How is Japanese Kindergarten curriculum unique?
How do International Montessori Schools in Tokyo spark a child’s creativity?
How do International Montessori Schools in Tokyo spark a child’s creativity?
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Ms. Ranido is the PYP coordinator and the GMP coordinator for GIIS East Coast Campus. She has over 20 years of teaching experience in different international and bilingual schools in Southeast Asia. She spent the last 11 years leading the implementation of the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) as a coordinator and teacher. She completed her Masters of Arts in Education from Sheffield Hallam University, UK in 2015. Ms. Ranido joined the Global Indian International School, EC Campus in July, 2019.