A child with a growth mindset is more likely to keep trying after mistakes.
The benefits of a growth mindset include stronger resilience and a willingness to keep learning.
At home and in the classroom, adults can support a growth mindset through encouragement, modeling, and opportunities for problem-solving.
A growth mindset for kids helps them become more confident and resilient in life, especially when they face difficulties. Parents and teachers can encourage this mindset at home and in the classroom.
An important part of the process is making sure children feel inspired to grow rather than pressured to succeed all the time. We can do this through simple changes in the way we respond when they make mistakes, along with many other strategies you can discover in this article.
Keep reading to learn how to help children develop a growth mindset.
What is a Growth Mindset?
A growth mindset is the understanding that children can develop their talents and abilities through effort, learning, and persistence. Teaching this mindset is not about expecting children to succeed all the time. Instead, parents and educators can help children see challenges as opportunities to learn.
One simple way to explain this to kids is the difference between saying “I can’t do this” and “I can’t do this yet.” That small word “yet” helps them understand that skills can grow with practice.
The way adults handle challenges around children can also affect how children respond to different situations later in life, because kids learn by watching how adults react.
This is why mindset matters — it influences whether they give up quickly or keep trying and learn from mistakes.
Why a Growth Mindset Matters for Children
Children with a growth mindset tend to lean into challenges instead of avoiding them. Over time, this helps them become more confident because they start to trust that their effort can change outcomes.
When they make mistakes, they don’t immediately assume they’re “not smart enough.” They’re more likely to see it as part of learning instead of giving up.
This also helps kids handle mistakes. Research tells us that students with a growth mindset show stronger resilience in school, especially when facing academic difficulties, and their environment, including peers, can influence how well they stay motivated [*].
One study also found that their parents’ growth mindset can influence children’s reading skills. Even when parents don’t directly talk about mindset, their beliefs about learning still seem to matter [*].
Having this mindset also encourages curiosity over perfection. Instead of focusing on getting everything right the first time, children become more open to trying again.
Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset in Kids
We can see the difference in a child’s reaction to something that feels challenging to them, such as a math problem at school or learning to tie their shoes at home.
A fixed mindset sounds like, “I’m just not good at this,” or “I’ll never get it right.” A child with this mindset might give up right away because they believe their ability is fixed. So if they struggle with a math worksheet, they might say, “I can’t do math.”
A growth mindset sounds more like, “This is hard, but I can learn it,” or “I haven’t figured it out yet.” That same child might try a different way or even ask for help until it starts to make sense.
At home, this could look like a child trying to build a puzzle and saying, “I’ll try again,” and then slowly testing different pieces until it starts to fit.
As a child therapist, I support a simple three-step approach for how to teach a growth mindset to children. This framework can be adapted at home or in school. The key idea is that it works best when adults are consistent.
Before moving into practice, it’s important to build a solid understanding of this mindset first. Once that foundation is in place, adults can then create intentional opportunities to practice it.
INTRODUCE Growth Mindset
Before children can practice a growth mindset, they first need to understand what it actually means in language that makes sense to them. This conversation will look different depending on the child’s age and personality.
If you’re talking to a younger child, you might keep it simple by saying, “Your brain grows when you practice,” or “Mistakes help us learn.” With older children or teens, the conversation can be more realistic and relatable, such as, “You don’t have to be good at something right away to improve at it.”
The goal is not to give a lecture, but to help children slowly shift how they think about challenges and mistakes.
Asking questions can also help children reflect on their experiences. You might ask:
“What was something hard that got easier with practice?”
“What did you learn from that mistake?”
“What could you try differently next time?”
MODEL a Growth Mindset
Modeling a growth mindset can be as simple as speaking out loud during difficult moments. For example, instead of saying, “I’m terrible at this,” a parent or teacher might say, “This is challenging, but I’m still learning.”
It can also help when caring adults share relatable experiences from their own lives. For example, a parent might talk about a time they struggled with a subject in school or felt nervous during a presentation.
Acknowledging feelings is important too. Adults can model statements like, “I felt frustrated at first, but I took a break and tried again.” Doing this teaches children that difficult emotions are normal and manageable.
Some families and classrooms also find it helpful to use simple growth mindset affirmations as an “anchor” during hard moments, such as:
“I haven’t figured it out YET.”
“The best way to learn is to keep trying.”
“Nothing starts out easy; it gets easier with practice.”
PRACTICE a Growth Mindset
Practice is a key ingredient in learning almost every skill in life, and the same is true for developing a growth mindset. Repeated experiences with problem-solving are what help this mindset become more natural.
Many of the best growth mindset moments happen naturally during everyday challenges. In therapy, I encourage families to notice when children feel disappointed and use those moments to guide their conversations.
Instead of focusing only on the mistake, adults can help children reflect by asking questions like, “What could help next time?” or “What helped you keep going?”
It’s also important not to jump in and fix the problem right away. It’s natural to want to help, but immediately rescuing children from frustration can sometimes take away opportunities to build their problem-solving skills.
How Parents Can Foster a Growth Mindset at Home
Parents have a bigger influence on a child’s mindset than they realize. Always remember that you are an important source of guidance for your child’s behaviors and functioning in different areas of life [*].
The good news is that a growth mindset is built through ordinary daily experiences, not perfect parenting.
Normalize mistakes as part of learning
Many children become upset when they make mistakes because they see them as signs of failure. Parents can help by treating mistakes as an expected part of learning.
For example, if your child spills milk while trying to pour it on their own, you can say, “Oops, that happens when we’re learning something new,” instead of sounding frustrated. Or if they get several answers wrong on homework, you could say, “You’re still figuring this out.”
Praise efforts, not just results
Children need encouragement, but the type of praise matters. When praise only focuses on outcomes like high grades, winning, or being “smart,” children may start to fear failure because they do not want to lose that label.
Instead, try praising the process. Whether your child is working through a difficult problem or practicing a new skill, focus on the effort they put in rather than just the final result.
Use the Power of “Yet”
Yet is a powerful word. It implies that something is not finished and that change is still possible. You can use this in everyday conversations with your child, such as:
“You haven’t learned that yet.”
“You’re not there yet, but you’re getting closer.”
“You can’t solve it yet, but you’re working on it.”
You can even go a step further and practice these phrases together. Your child can start with “I…” and then add “yet” at the end, such as “I can’t do this yet” or “I don’t understand this yet.”
This does not mean placing children in stressful situations, but instead encouraging gradual growth outside their comfort zone. New experiences may include trying something new at school or practicing independence in small tasks.
You can also introduce simple growth mindset activities, such as an arts and crafts project that involves setting small personal goals.
Always start small and reflect together, too. After new experiences, take time to talk with your child about what they noticed and what they learned along the way.
Read books about a growth mindset
Growth mindset books can be great tools for children who connect well with stories. For example, a story about a character who is afraid of making mistakes but eventually learns that trying again can help them improve may feel relatable.
How Teachers Can Foster a Growth Mindset in the Classroom
Many teachers can relate to students who give up quickly when work feels hard. Sometimes your approach needs to be more intentional in how your students experience learning.
Here are a few things you can start doing in your classroom to help students think and respond with a growth mindset.
Encourage participation
Not every student will jump in right away, especially those who are shy or afraid of being wrong. You can make participation feel safe by giving students time to think before answering, where they first talk with a partner before sharing with the class. This reduces pressure.
You can also vary how students participate. Some may prefer speaking, while others may feel more comfortable writing answers on a mini whiteboard or using thumbs-up/down signals. For more reserved personalities, even non-verbal participation counts as progress.
Promote collaboration over competition
Competition can sometimes be motivating, but it can also create pressure and make students more afraid of making mistakes. Collaboration, however, shifts the focus from comparing students to one another to working together toward a shared goal.
Instead of ranking performance, students can work in mixed-ability groups to solve problems together. Each student can take on a different role. Some students thrive in leadership roles, while others feel more comfortable supporting in the background — both are valuable.
Offer process-based feedback
Process-based feedback means paying attention to how students are learning, not just what they get correct. So instead of saying “right” or “wrong,” you can comment on their effort and thinking, like “I like how you tried a new approach.”
This technique is especially powerful for students who doubt themselves. High-achieving students also benefit because now they realize that improvement still matters.
Use flexible learning approaches
Traditional teaching follows a more fixed structure, where each student is expected to learn the same material in the same way, at the same pace. While this approach can be efficient, it doesn’t always meet the different needs in a classroom.
Flexible learning, on the other hand, involves more effort from teachers because it requires planning different ways for students to engage with the same content. That might mean letting students choose how they learn or mixing up activities. It can take a bit more time to plan, but it pays off because more students can connect with the lesson.
Common Mistakes When Teaching Growth Mindset
It’s easy to unintentionally do certain things when teaching a growth mindset, especially when the goal is to help children do well. That’s why self-awareness is so important for teachers.
I’ll go over some common pitfalls to watch for in the classroom and what to do instead.
Overpraising without meaning
This can look like saying “Good job!” or “You’re so smart!” all the time, even when a student didn’t really try something difficult or specific. At first, it sounds positive, but children may start to tune it out.
A better approach is noticing the effort or strategy, like “I like how you kept trying different ways until it worked.” Math is a great example of this, because there’s usually more than one way to solve a problem, and the learning happens in the process.
Ignoring a child’s frustration
It’s normal for children to feel frustrated during the learning process, especially when something takes longer than expected. Because of this, dismissing a child’s feelings too quickly with responses like “It’s easy” or “Just try again” can sometimes make them feel unheard.
A more supportive approach is first acknowledging the emotion by saying, “I can see this feels really frustrating,” before encouraging them to keep going.
Expecting instant change
This can look like assuming a child will immediately start “thinking positively” after one lesson or conversation about a growth mindset.
In reality, children may still give up, get upset, or use fixed mindset language for a while. That doesn’t mean they aren’t learning. Growth takes repetition.
Turning it into pressure
Sometimes, a growth mindset is presented in a way that feels very performance-focused, like “Keep pushing” or “Don’t quit.” While the intention is usually positive, this can unintentionally create pressure for children.
It helps to remind children that learning also involves rest and patience. Using simple growth mindset quotes, such as “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity,” or “Every expert started as a beginner,” can help.
Help Your Kids Build a Growth Mindset Today
As we’ve discussed throughout this article, there are many ways parents and teachers can support this mindset, from using encouraging language to creating opportunities for children to problem-solve and try again. At the same time, it’s also important for caring adults to stay aware of their own reactions.
Most importantly, children do not need a perfect parent or teacher. They need someone who is willing to guide them through challenges and mistakes.
If you’re looking for more resources for teaching a growth mindset to children, we also offer Growth Mindset Posters.
References:
King, R. B., Li, J., & Wang, Y. (2026). Both individual and peer growth mindsets matter for academic resilience. Npj Science of Learning, 11(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-026-00403-z
Song, Y., Barger, M. M., & Bub, K. L. (2022). The Association Between Parents’ Growth Mindset and Children’s Persistence and Academic Skills. Frontiers in Education, 6, 791652. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.791652
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Committee on Supporting the Parents of Young Children; Breiner H, Ford M, Gadsden VL, editors. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2016 Nov 21. 2, Parenting Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK402020/
