1. GRIT
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard,
anyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes
it great.” A League of Their Own
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndL7y0MIRE4
4. Why are marshmallows important?
• How do you cope with that
uncomfortable feeling?
• Can impulse control be taught? What
about motivation and perseverance?
• Researchers agree that grit is important
but how do we (and our kids) get
grittier?
6. We all know that this message is harmful,
but what about the opposite message?
7. “Effort is for those who don’t have ability.”
Telling kids they’re smart makes them
more likely to avoid a challenge
8. Growth Mindset Grit
• Grit is natural practice of someone who
has a growth mindset: “If I work hard I
can get better at x, y or z so let’s get to
work.”
• “This is too hard” v. “I love a challenge!”
• Kids who view a challenge as a test of
their worth aren’t able to relish a
challenge.
9. But isn’t it more complicated
than being gritty or gritless?
Turn to someone near you and share:
• An area of your life you feel really “gritty” at
• An area of your life that makes you feel
“gritless”
12. Shifting the way we look at problems
So many parents have said to me, “I can’t stand to see my child
unhappy.” If you can’t stand to see your child unhappy, you are
in the wrong business. The small challenges that start in
infancy (the first whimper that doesn’t bring you running)
present the opportunity for “successful failures,” that is,
failures your child can live with and grow from. To rush in too
quickly, to shield them, to deprive them of those challenges is
to deprive them of the tools they will need to handle the
inevitable, difficult, challenging and sometimes devastating
demands of life. --NY Times article: “Raising Successful Children”
22. How do parents and teachers
encourage growth mindset?
• Ask kids: when do you feel smart—when it’s
easy or when you’re learning?
• Praise effort and work habits, not ability or
grades
• Remember that valuing speed and perfection
can hinder difficult learning
• Model a growth mindset in our own lives
24. How can our community promote a
growth mindset?
• High standards and nurturing environment
• It feels safe to explore and fail
• Kids are encouraged to hear criticism and
learn from it
• Losing well and winning well are valued
• Not “judge-and-be-judged” but “learn-and-
help-learn”
25. Gritty stuff kids need help with
• Learning to enjoy something they don’t want
to do—capitalize on their strengths to help
with this
• Understanding how to break things down into
manageable chunks so they can learn to do it
for themselves
• Remembering that we “keep on keeping on”
even when it doesn’t feel great
27. How parents should see the 1-4 scale
3
(you did it!)
2
(you did it with support)
1
(below benchmarks)
4
28. Additional Resources
• Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
• Grit Ted Talk by Angela Lee Duckworth
http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit
• “Raising Successful Children” by Madeline Levine, The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/raising-successful-
children.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
• “Opting out of the Rug Rat Race” by Paul Tough, Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390443819404577635352783638
934
• Fostering a growth mindset in the classroom:
http://www.fivetowns.net/crms/images/documents/tuesdaytimes/12412/growthfeed
backandquestioning.pdf
• www.brainology.us
