Growth Mindset for Kids

What do you say to yourself when you get stuck?

Then ask: Would you say that to a friend who was stuck?

What is the difference between "I can't do it" and "I can't do it yet"?

Then ask: What would have to happen for the "yet" to come true?

When did you want to quit something and keep going anyway?

Then ask: What got you through the next ten minutes?

Which is better to work on: something easy you get all right or something hard you get half right?

Then ask: Which one changes what you can do?

How can you tell that something is too hard for now, and not only hard?

Then ask: What would make it the right size?

What do you do first when you do not understand the instructions?

Then ask: What is your second move if that fails?

Who do you know that is good at something hard? How do you think they got there?

Then ask: What part of it did you never see them do?

Which feels worse: trying and failing, or not trying?

Then ask: Which one do you remember longer?

What does your body feel like when a task is hard?

Then ask: Is that feeling a stop sign or only a feeling?

What do you avoid because you might be bad at it?

Then ask: What is the smallest way to try it with nobody watching?

If a problem takes you a long time, what does that say about you?

Then ask: What does it say about the problem?

What is the difference between a mistake and a failure?

Then ask: Can a failure be useful? When?

How do you feel when someone points out your mistake?

Then ask: What would make it easier to hear?

What is a mistake you keep making?

Then ask: What is it trying to tell you?

Is it better to make a mistake in practice or in the real thing?

Then ask: So what is practice for?

When a friend makes a mistake, what do you think of them?

Then ask: Do you judge yourself the same way?

What do you do with a test or a drawing that went badly: hide it, throw it out or look at it?

Then ask: What could you find if you looked?

Has a mistake of yours ever turned into something good?

Then ask: Would it have happened if you had played it safe?

Who was the last grown-up you saw make a mistake? What did they do next?

Then ask: What did you learn from watching?

Is being wrong the same as being bad at something?

Then ask: How many times was the best player you know wrong while learning?

What is a mistake you are glad you made early?

Then ask: What would it have cost you later?

When is "I got that wrong" hard to say?

Then ask: What makes it easier?

Does practice always make you better?

Then ask: What is the difference between practicing and repeating?

How do you practice the part you are worst at?

Then ask: Do you spend more time on that part or on the part you like?

How do you know you are improving when it happens slowly?

Then ask: What could you measure or save to check?

Is talent something you are born with or something you build?

Then ask: What would each answer mean for the thing you want to be good at?

What would you get good at if you did it for ten minutes every day?

Then ask: What would you have to do ten minutes less of?

Who helps you more: someone who says "great job" or someone who shows you what to fix?

Then ask: Which do you want to hear first?

What is something boring you have to do to get to something fun?

Then ask: How do you get through the boring part?

Which skill took you the longest to learn?

Then ask: What would you tell a kid who is starting it today?

What does "your best" mean on a day when you are tired?

Then ask: Is your best the same every day?

When did you last surprise yourself?

Then ask: What had you believed about yourself before that?

What is a goal that would take you a whole year?

Then ask: What would the first week look like?

When someone wins, do you think they were lucky, talented or hard-working?

Then ask: How could you find out which?

When does asking for help feel hard?

Then ask: What do you think the helper feels when you ask?

What is the difference between "you are so smart" and "you worked hard on that"?

Then ask: Which one would make you try a harder problem next time?

Who believes you can do hard things?

Then ask: What did they do that showed it?

How can you cheer for a friend when you wanted to win yourself?

Then ask: Do you have to feel happy for the cheer to count?

What do you do when someone says you are "not a math person" or "not sporty"?

Then ask: Who gets to decide what kind of person you are?

Is it copying to learn from how someone else does it?

Then ask: Where is the line between learning and copying?

Would you choose a team where you are the best or one where you are the worst?

Then ask: Where would you learn more?

What is something you taught someone?

Then ask: What did teaching it show you about how well you understood it?

When a classmate is struggling, what helps and what makes it worse?

Then ask: What do you want people to do when it is you?

Whose opinion of your work matters most to you?

Then ask: What happens when it differs from your own?

Try something new at dinner, in a game or at school. What will it be?

Then ask: What will you tell yourself if it goes badly?

Ask someone how they learned the thing they are best at. Who will you ask?

Then ask: What do you expect to hear, and what might surprise you?

Do one task the hard way on purpose: with the other hand, without a calculator or from memory. Which task?

Then ask: What did the hard way show you?

Keep one piece of work from today and look at it again in a month. What will you keep?

Then ask: What do you hope will be different by then?

Find a mistake in your homework before anyone else does. Where will you look first?

Then ask: How does it feel to find it yourself?

Teach a grown-up something you know and they do not. What will you teach?

Then ask: What was hard about explaining it?

Add "yet" to one sentence you say about yourself. Which sentence?

Then ask: Does it feel true?

Do something you are bad at for ten minutes and count what you learned. What will you choose?

Then ask: Were ten minutes enough to notice a change?

Thank someone who corrected you. Who will it be?

Then ask: What makes that hard to do?

Set a goal for the week and write it where you can see it. What is the goal?

Then ask: How will you know on Sunday whether you made it?

At the end of the week, name one thing that got easier. What do you guess it will be?

Then ask: What made it easier: time, practice or help?