I read this in an article about the infamous "Tiger Mom" and found it thought-provoking. It's definitely something for all of us teachers and parents to ponder!
Quote from Time Magazine:
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck "has conducted studies with hundreds of students, mostly early adolescents, in which experimenters gave the subjects a set of difficult problems from an IQ test. Afterward, some of the young people were praised for their ability: 'You must be smart at this.' Others were praised for their effort: 'You must have worked really hard.' The kids who were complimented on their intelligence were much more likely to turn down the opportunity to do a challenging new task that they could learn from. 'They didn't want to do anything that could expose their deficiencies and call into question their talent,' Dweck says. Ninety percent of the kids who were praised for their hard work, however, were eager to take on the demanding new exercise."
I've read about that and find it to be SO true. If you praise everything like "oh you're so smart!" it's going to lose effect fast. I tend to praise T by telling him specifically what he has done that merits praise. I also make it a point to not say "I'm proud of you" because I don't want him to do things for ME to be proud... he should be able to be proud for himself so I say "you should be SO proud-- you did a good job of staying in the lines". Of course every now and then I'm too proud to put it on him ;)
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