Grit and Growth Mindset

Grit has been described as passion and perseverance. It’s the ability to do hard things. It seems to be in shorter supply in today’s world than in past generations. Most people put too much value on natural talent and fail to see the value in hard work. 

 If we are not intentional in teaching our children to be gritty, they will become more accustomed to ease and less familiar with difficulty. They may become soft. They may already be soft. What can we do about it? How can we teach our children grit?

Grit goes hand-hand with both hard work and determination. We teach our children grit when we teach them the value of hard work and expect them to do it. We teach it when we have high expectations of honest effort.

It also comes as we let them struggle. Figure things out. Not jump in to solve problems or give all the answers. They'll gain confidence in their ability to power through obstacles and keep going.

Having grit is part of having a growth mindset. This video by Angela Lee Duckworth is an amazing tool for knowing how to inspire this in our children.

(Dweck, Developing a Growth Mindset, 2014)

In the video, Dweck makes a powerful statement about the power of yet, instead of the tyranny of now. She tells us that a growth mindset means that we don’t look at failure as permanent. What a valuable thing to instill in our children. Viewing our shortcomings as opportunities to grow broadens our sense of our potential.

The manner in which we praise our children helps determine if they have a fixed or growth mindset. The following chart gives suggestions for fostering the latter.

 (Growth Mindset, n.d.)

As we work on instilling a growth mindset in our children, I believe we will also benefit from these principles. It's never too late to change our own mindset and reframe our perceptions of failure as opportunity for continued learning and growth.

Works Cited

Dweck, C. (2014, 10 9). Developing a Growth Mindset.

Growth Mindset. (n.d.). Retrieved from Mindset Scholars Network: https://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org/learning-mindsets/growth-mindset/#