Growth Mindset

As someone who has gratefully gotten to spend so much time working with kids, I have heard of the growth mindset before, but not exactly Carol Dweck's version. In childcare, and especially child education, there might be thousands of different versions of how to go about this. I agree 100% with everything she has to say in her videos. However, she looks at it from a scientific position, through brain activity, scenarios, and data collection. While I am nowhere near that level, I am on the interpersonal level. You can learn a lot about a child in terms of how they learn, how they accept criticism, how they find the solution that works for them, just by spending all day, every day with them. What it most fascinating to me, is that there is no two kids alike. There are no two kids who collect, process, stimulate, and put out in the same way. This to me is the most exciting part about working with children, which is finding what works for them. Obviously, the growth mindset can be applied to children and adults alike, but I have always taken more interest in the mold-able minds of kids. When we first learn how to work with kids, the biggest thing we are taught is that there is always another option before you run out of options. Sounds like some crazy yogi business, but really, its true. When a child's behavior is on a negative slope, for example, there are always steps you can take before they hit rock bottom and have a meltdown. The same can be said for growth mindset. There will always be more than enough steps that one can and should take before failure even comes into view. They always say failure is not an option, and I think Carol Dweck's theory backs that perfectly.

Think Outside of the Box