In the book, A Mindset for Learning: Teaching the Traits of Joyful, Independent Growth, the authors describe growth mindset as consisting of five stances: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience and Optimism. I will cover each of these in subsequent posts. Each post will include a brief explanation and some suggestions on how you can help your child grow this particular stance.
Flexibility
Flexible thinking is the ability to quickly switch gears and find new approaches to solve problems. It is giving people a chance to have it their way instead of having it our way all of the time. It involves working together to solve a problem. When kids are flexible, they tend to do better in social situations. It makes other people feel good and other kids want to be around a kid who is flexible.
To teach flexibility to your child, check out the suggestions from Encourage Play (click image):
As your child faces problems, challenge them to consider multiple solutions. Get them to think about the consequences of each and how others might think and feel. What is the best solution that would meet the needs of others? I would suggest using the "flexible" language: "Are you being flexible?" "What could you do to demonstrate a flexible mind?"
I will continue to post related resources as I find them. In the meantime, keep up the hard work!
(Source: Understood.org - 1, Understood.org - 2)
