Forming a „Growth Mind-Set“

Our brain behaves like a powerful, mysterious muscle: growing stronger, more refined and with heightened endurance every minute we engage it.

The Scientific American explored this concept, as well as studies concerning “talent” and how it’s perceived, in a very interesting article titled: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids.Reading this article, I almost misread the title as being: The Secret to Raising Smart Animal Companions.

I have always marveled at the direct connection between teaching “animals” and “humans,” after all, they’re just different species, not completely alienated beings: we share a lot of experiences, emotions and basic communication patterns.

Some people communicate with an animal by acting like a monkey themselves. They act very different than they usually would and either become extremely cruel and unjust to the animal or treat it as though it can only learn with a continuous flow of treats and praise.

It’s the same detached communication that the majority of children experience, often all the way up to adulthood and beyond.

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids elaborates that: “More than three decades of research shows … a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success … in life”. What a wonderful concept to teach and raise a child, as well as an animal, with! It seems this article could just as well have been written about raising animals… Wouldn’t it be great if every new parent and/or “animal owner” had a copy of it handed to them with a smile and a “Good luck!“? I hope I can achieve just that by posting this and really hope some of you will enjoy it as much as I did. Click here to learn how to become “smart”! Good luck!

But, maybe you have a busy schedule and simply don’t have the time to read an entire article: there’s just so much to get done today! So, to give you an idea, here’s a rough summary of The Secret to Raising Smart Kids, taken from the Scientific American, just for you!

• Many people assume that superior intelligence or ability is a key to success. But more than three decades of research shows that an overemphasis on intellect or talent—and the implication that such traits are innate and fixed—leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unmotivated to learn.
• Teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life.
• Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine.

And… here’s a link to the article!