After reading about Carol Dweck and listening to some of her work regarding mindset I became very aware of the way I look at things. The fixed mind set and the growth mind set can be applied to so many different situations. The funny thing is about this class so far is that it always seems like the topics we discuss become relevant in my life. The whole week leading up to class I was struggling with the toddlers I care for. There were so many timeout and I was leaving work frustrated and unhappy at how mad I had gotten throughout the day. But they were misbehaving, didn't I need to be more strict?It was very clear to see how my week went, going into work with an attitude of being strict and trying to set boundaries because the children don't know any better and must respect me vs when I went into work on Friday ready to take in what was going on with the kids, and why their behavior was bothering me so much and maybe in the end they just needed more focus on different activities instead of being punished for acting out constantly. Friday was no different than the other days this week, I take care of two boys who are under three years old, they have energy and there is always conflict. Monday through Friday I was so set in the way I did everything, they started jumping on the couch and I would say no! they would not stay with me while walking around in the zoo, so I'd lecture them and give them timeout! It was a negative spiral. On Friday it was no different, after breakfast they started running around and jumping on the couch. Instead of getting bothered I played with them for a couple minutes, giving them attention and engaging in a game with them around the couch instead of jumping. After that I encouraged them to go play with the kitchen set because I was "hungry" for pancakes and just like that the jumping stopped. When they wouldn't stay with me while walking I calmly explained why it was important that we stayed together and we moved around more between activities to not give them a chance to get tired and start wondering off. I don't think it was necessarily my actions, although having more activities helped, but looking at the situation differently made me more open to change the way I was doing things.
The other aspect of Carol Dweck's work that made me think was, is it possible to have a fixed mindset about some things and not others?
How do children develop growth mindsets on their own someones? is it by the example of role models around them?
