Lawrence Park School Blog
  • Blog
  • Parents
    • Toddler
    • Preschool One
    • Preschool
    • Sr. PS & Kindergarten
  • Website
  • Summer Program
  • Blog
  • Parents
    • Toddler
    • Preschool One
    • Preschool
    • Sr. PS & Kindergarten
  • Website
  • Summer Program

​Building “Grit” in our Kids

2/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture

A Message From our Director

If we look around at people who have had success in life, they are not necessarily the smartest or most talented individuals. Research indicates that the most important determining factor of success is “grit” – the passion and perseverance for long term goals or the degree of effort one is willing to spend over time. Stick-to-it-ness. In fact, many successful individuals have come through a number of significant failures on their way. Carol Dweck, Ph.D., calls this a growth mindset and says: “If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.”  
She offers the following tips for parents from her book, Mindset:

1. Have daily learning discussions.  “What did you learn today?” “What mistake did you make that taught you something?” “What did you try hard at today?” It’s really important, says Dweck, that we share what we learned, too. This models for kids that we learn new things every day, even learning from failures. Use comments like “I like how you kept trying until you finished the puzzle” or “let’s see if we can figure this out”.

2. Give feedback on process only.  Praise effort and persistence rather than personal abilities like being smart, pretty, or artistic. That can backfire and lead to a loss of confidence since kids won’t be smart at everything.  If something is difficult, they may give up easily.

3. Explain how the brain can grow stronger and that intelligence can improve throughout your life.  Kids need to know this is possible.

4. Encourage risk, failing, and learning from mistakes. This is how children learn resiliency and to believe in their abilities to work hard and succeed.  

5. Encourage and model positive self-talk.  Use language like “I can do this if I keep trying” or “I need to practice this some more to get better”.
​
Let’s get gritty about building “grit”!   Until next time……Leslie

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!


Hours

M-F: 9:00am - 2:55pm

Telephone

416.489.4459

Email

info@lawrenceparkschool.ca