Everyone wants a child that does well in school. Teaching your child to have the right mind-set for success is crucial to helping your child succeed. The two mind-sets (according to Carol Dweck who wrote an article on “The Secret To Raising Smart Kids”) can change the way your child learns. These two mind-sets can be applied to any student which would be carried out to the child’s athletics and working career.
To have a fixed mind-set, Carol says that students who believe that they only have a certain amount of intelligence and that’s it. They want to look smart without being smart. Dweck insists that, “They had a negative view of effort, believing that having to work hard at something was a sign of low ability. They thought that a person with talent or intelligence did not need to work hard to do well.” This thought can prevent bosses from getting along with workers. Scientists have discovered that managers tend not to take advice from their employees with a growth mind-set because they already feel as if they are smarter than the employees and know better than them, causing the workplace to decline. Athletes who think they know better become unteachable later on. They, “value talent more than hard work” causing them to not get any further than what they are praised for.
The kids with a growth mind-set are taught that intelligence can be developed through education and hard work. These students are, “…destined for greater academic success and were quite likely to outperform their counterparts,” even with no greater skills. They use challenges as opportunities. This can register to workers as well. When dealt with a problem, workers that, “believe people can change and grow, however, are more confident that confronting concerns in their relationships will lead to resolutions.” The workers see that there is a problem and work to take care of it in the idea that they will grow and get more knowledge while resolving the problem. After doing so, they have stronger relationships and more confidence to conquer the next difficulties that lay ahead. Athletes with a growth mind-set take this into consideration. Athletes who want to learn and perfect the technique will have more confidence in playing a tournament; “Believing that the more you labored at something, the better you would become at it.” Working and being athletic are very similar in the state of resolving the problem.
As Dweck said, “Our society worships talent”. What people don’t understand is that talent can be a very negative thing when people are praised and encouraged too much for motivation. In doing that, they get little work done. Praising your children for their hard work creates a growth mind-set and goes a farther distance than praising them for their smartness which in contrast does the opposite by teaching them the fixed mind-set. Which shows in their progress in athletics, grades in school, and success in work.
