Building Confidence and Resilience: How a Growth Mindset Can Help Children Overcome Anxiety
Children with anxiety tend to struggle with perfectionism and often worry about the quality of their performance or competence at school, sports, and other extracurricular activities. Children with anxiety might redo tasks multiple times because of excessive dissatisfaction with less-than-perfect performance. These children often give up easily, are sensitive to feedback, and avoid trying new experiences. Talking to children about embracing a growth mindset can help decrease anxiety and perfectionist tendencies.
People with growth mindsets believe that the human brain is like a muscle and that intelligence, skills, and talents are learnable and improve with practice. They believe mistakes are part of the learning process and are open to embracing new challenges because they aren’t afraid to fail. On the contrary, someone with a fixed mindset believes people are born with a fixed intelligence, meaning people are either born smart or they are not. These individuals views mistakes as failure and can be fill with feelings of anxiety, sadness, and frustration when things are cahllening.
Parents can help children adopt a growth mindset by;
Reading picture books and watching movies that incorporate a growth mindset
Modeling appropriate ways to respond to mistakes
“I just made a mistake and I know that is okay.”
“I can learn from this mistake. I wonder what I can do differently next time?”
“Remember each time we fail and try again our brain grows stronger.”
Using a growth mindset vocabulary “YET!”
“You are feeling frustrated that all the kids are riding their bike and you can’t ride a bike yet. I am proud of you for trying.”
“You are feeling disappointed you don’t know all your times tables yet. I am so proud of you for studying even when it is difficult.”
Taking advantage of teachable moments
“I noticed you when you got frustrated with your homework you asked your father for help instead of giving up.”
“I am proud of you for persevering in the face of challenges.”
In conclusion, addressing anxiety and perfectionism in children requires a shift in mindset towards embracing growth and resilience. Children with anxiety often face struggles related to their performance and fear of making mistakes. By introducing the concept of a growth mindset, we empower children to understand that intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort and practice. Those with a growth mindset see mistakes as opportunities for learning and are willing to embrace new challenges. As parents, we play a crucial role in nurturing this mindset by modeling healthy responses to mistakes, using growth mindset vocabulary, and seizing teachable moments. By instilling a growth mindset in our children, we provide them with the tools to navigate anxiety, overcome perfectionism, and approach life's challenges with confidence and resilience.