Growth Mindset

Wee One’s teacher talks to the class a lot about having a “Growth Mindset.” She sent the parents a visual about it.

If you don’t click on the link, I’ll summarize the gist of the list: Brains can grow, no matter what. Praise effort, hard work, remind yourself and your kid that mistakes are how we grow and and change is possible. To be positive.

It doesn’t explicitly say the words, “brain plasticity,” but that’s what it is. When I think those words, I hear is in the voice of an English man I sort of worked with, Nigel. Nigel worked for an agency that focused on, as they called it, “the science of well-being.” He was really nice and interested in everyone he talked to, which is a rare quality. He also had a lot of energy and interest in what he was doing, and it was easy to get swept up in.

He was partnering with my department, which was going to transition to this different sort of intervention… To be honest, it gets fuzzy at that point because I stopped paying attention. My department wanted me to take two years of training – basically get another master’s degree – to become a wellness coach for our clients, and I wasn’t interested. I had just finished a master’s. I didn’t want to be a wellness coach. I was burned out and pissed off and fuck that, so I wasn’t very open. But I liked Nigel.

Now, reading over the teacher’s file, I almost wish I had paid more attention to the mind/body connection so I could help myself and my kid, my friends, through this surreal time.