Ways for Kids to Develop a Growth Mindset

By Deborah Notis, Co-Owner of GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection

Your kids spend approximately 30 hours every week in a large classroom, listening to teachers. Some classes are more interactive, others are more lecture-style. But none of these classrooms provide them with personalized learning experiences. Learning experiences that play to their strengths and weaknesses. Learning experiences that help them to become a confident, lifelong learner.

That is where GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection steps in. From preschool through post-college career guidance, GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection offers one-to-one learning opportunities – experiential and individualized learning opportunities tailored to fit your kid’s individual needs. GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection is dedicated to helping kids develop a growth mindset and becoming lifelong learners.

Fostering a growth mindset is a powerful way to cultivate a positive attitude, to be willing to learn how to learn. Being open to new ideas, to learning concepts and seeing different perspectives, involves having a growth mindset.

Here are 4 ways to encourage children to have a growth mindset:

1. Model kindness. One of the most important lessons that children can learn from adults is how to be kind. Being kind involves demonstrating concern for others and teaching children to understand and respect perspectives that are different from their own perspectives. Children can learn kindness at every age, and there are different, basic strategies that parents and teachers can use to model kindness. Look for opportunities to set examples for children, pointing out simple moments of kindness and providing children with perspectives on acts of kindness. By modeling kindness, parents and teachers can show children how to open their hearts and minds, to look for the possibility of problem solving, to find ways to change the world around them for the better.
2. Teach Children that it is Okay to be Wrong. If children know that they can make mistakes, they will be more open to trying new things. In the process of making mistakes, children learn what works and what does not work. Children learn to courageously advance from their comfort zone into a learning zone. If children feel comfortable taking chances with the possibility of being wrong, they will also be open to finding ways to fix the problem. This creates a growth mindset.
3. Teach Children Problem-Solving Skills. Rather than giving up when children get wrong answers, a growth mindset encourages children to find ways to solve problems. These problems don’t have to be academic challenges. These problems can include anything in their lives, from social challenges to time management issues. If children learn to problem solve, they can overcome countless obstacles in different aspects of their lives. One effective way to introduce children to problem solving skills is through games like chess. Playing chess requires concentration and the ability to strategize and analyze situations. Moreover, playing chess helps students learn patience, which is an essential problem-solving skill. If children are open to problem solving, they can overcome countless obstacles in different aspects of their lives.

GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection is dedicated to creating environments that encourage growth mindsets. GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection helps students in every academic subject, at every grade and achievement level, including test prep, college advising, executive functioning skills, and post-college career advising.

Working with tutors and coaches referred by GAMECHANGER Tutoring Connection, families connect with a team that is dedicated to cultivating more thoughtful, confident children, who have a growth mindset and a greater love of learning.