Learning at Home

The Power of Praise

A friend and reader of my blog recently made me aware of this AMAZING video on the power of praise. (Thanks Stephanie!!!!) I remember reading the study from Carol Dweck about how praise can help or hurt a child’s ability to develop a “growth mindset” or the belief that we can grow and change. When we praise the wrong things, we can actually encourage students and children to develop a “fixed mindset”, or the belief that we are born the way we are (good or bad at math for example).

Praise Can be Good or Bad, Depending on What and How you Praise

Check out the video and post your comments below:

If you want to read more on this topic, there is a great blogger (also a twin mom) I recently met via Twitter and this blog (!) who has recently written about this study as well. (Get outta my head!) It’s the article I would have written if she didn’t already do it for me. 🙂 Check out her great piece here on her blog, SleepingShouldBeEasy:

Were you praised as a child? What impact did it have on your development of a fixed vs. growth mindset? How does this inform your parenting or teaching?

2 thoughts on “The Power of Praise

  1. Alison, thanks for the shout out! And it’s sooo good to talk to other bloggers/parents about this (like you, I can’t shut up about Carol Dweck and the whole ‘praise’ thing). So far so good with my kids: I praise their effort, make challenges and hard work seem like the most exciting thing ever, and I apologize instead of congratulate when my kiddo does a worksheet or task too fast or easily.

    And this video? AWESOME. I love me my infographics, and this video takes the concept even further. Thanks so much for sharing. I’m posting this on Twitter!!

    1. Awesome. I love meeting parents like you who are interested in learning new things. The cool thing about being a mom of more than one kid (and especially twins), is you get to see your parenting style and its impact on two (or three) totally different people. I look forward to reading your blog sleepingshouldbeeasy.com (I subscribed!) and don’t hesitate to connect via Twitter or here if you have any thoughts/ideas for my blog.

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