Sparkle Schoolhouse

Sparkle Weekly Wonderings: Growth Mindset

Every once in awhile I’m so enamored of a parenting approach or tool that I insist we bring it from the “classroom” of our own family into the Sparkle community.

And today is one of those days! Are you ready?

The concept I’d like to share is called “Growth Mindset.” Even my very first, very basic exposure to the ideas within Growth Mindset immediately changed the way I talked to my kids, as well as the way I thought about myself and others. It’s changed the culture of our house, particularly around learning and education.

What is it?

Here’s a very brief nutshell:

In Growth Mindset, you believe your abilities can be developed. For example: intelligence can improve with study and practice, and physical abilities can improve with training and effort. This contrasts to "Fixed Mindset" in which one believes that smarts and talents are innate, fixed traits that can't really be cultivated.

If you want to foster curiosity and a love of learning in your house, I think fostering a Growth Mindset may be one of the very best things you can do.

The concept comes from Stanford University Psychology professor Carol Dweck who discovered through her decades of research with thousands of children that success in the classroom has less to do with innate ability and everything to do with mindset.

I’ve created a short intro to Growth Mindset on the Sparkle Blog with my favorite resources for taking a deeper dive. Plus we’ve assembled our best stories to inspire resilience, patience, grit, and the gift of mistakes — all essential elements in the Growth Mindset framework.

I hope this is as helpful to you as it’s been to me — which is nothing short of transformative!

Warmly,

Lisabeth