Are You a Believer of Growth Mindset?

By Ty Salvant

One of my many projects currently underway is a journal to reflect on our motherhood journey. In it, there are questions to reflect on the mother you had, the mother you are, and the mother you want to be.

While preparing it, I asked my mother if there was anything she would have done differently. Much to my surprise, one of her most known characteristics is the one that she would have changed. It’s also the last thing I would have expected her to say. That conversation was so profound for many reasons.

If you have a child in school now, you have certainly heard the comparisons between a growth and fixed mindset. Basically, a fixed mindset believes that people do not change and that they are born with the smarts that they will have their entire life. A person is either good or bad at math; can learn to play basketball or can’t.

On the other side of that coin is a growth mindset, which proposes that there is always room for growth. You can learn to be better at any task with enough knowledge and practice.

I like to remind a child who claims to be bad at a task, of that – comparing it to when he or she first played a new video game. The first time, he didn’t beat the game or win, but with enough practice, there was improvement.

I know that. I teach that. I live that.

However, I did not apply that to my mother. How foolish of me to put limitations on her growth! With this renewed perspective, I love, appreciate and respect her even more.