Why Dwelling On Failure Will Stunt Your Child’s Intellectual Growth

Here's another reason why parents should not adopt a pessimistic mindset. A new parenting study found that parents who dwell on their child's academic failures are more likely to have kids who doubt their own intellectual capacity.

Intelligence And Failure

According to the latest research entry on Psychological Science, parents play a very crucial role in influencing a child's attitude towards studying. Kids who are taught that intelligence can change over time tend to deal with academic hurdles more constructively.

Researchers at Stanford University derived their conclusion after interviewing 73 Bay Area parents and their fourth- and fifth-grade children about their perspectives on intelligence and failure. The respondents were asked whether or not they viewed intelligence as something that's malleable and if there were redeeming qualities to their child's academic failures.

"Parents who had more of a failure-is-debilitating mindset had children who were significantly more likely to believe that intelligence is fixed," the study's lead researcher Kyla Haimovitz told NPR. "The more parents believed that failure is debilitating, the more likely their children were to see them as concerned with their performance outcomes and grades rather than their learning and improvement."

Solutions Rather Than Mistakes

The psychology professor added that parents should not pay too much attention on their child's struggles. Instead, they should focus on how their kids can learn from their mistakes. Haimovitz advised parents to choose their words carefully when consoling their child after a failed exam or an underwhelming day at school.

"The takeaway is that when your child is struggling on something or has setbacks, don't focus on their abilities, focus on what they can learn from it," said Haimovitz. One method is by asking a child: "How can you use this as a jumping-off point?"

Science Daily noted that the study could be used to develop interventions that teach parents about the advantages of failure. Haimovitz and her colleagues stressed that children may still not adopt the growth mindset if parents and educators do not use learning-focused practices.