The Growth Mindset Workbook By Daddilife Books!

The Growth Mindset Workbook is the latest publication from Daddilife, a parenting platform devised primarily for Dads but which has invited parents of all genders to reap the rewards they sew. this latest book is aimed at helping children aged 6-12 understand and grow their growth mindset by taking on the 60 activities inside the pages.

Now, first up, what is growth mindset? If you’re not familiar with the term then, in a nutshell, it is the term coined to describe how we need to believe that our skills and abilities are not limited to those we know we already own. As adults especially we can become accustomed to believing we can achieve no more than we already do but growing our mindset to believe that we can, and that we will, is growth mindset. The belief is that if we can empower ourselves to believe we have possibilities then our aims and goals are far more likely to reach fruition. A little like manifesting if you will which far from being mumbo jumbo is proven to enable us to go and get what we want. Contrary to popular belief it is not that we simply think we can throw out into the world our desires and they will come to us simply by wanting them but that the act of doing this, of verbalising even if only inside our own heads that we want something, will itself help us work harder to achieve our goals. For children, believing in themselves has only just begun to be thwarted by the constraints of every day life and the grinding down of positively believing “we can” in favour of “we cannot” so catching children when young, to empower them from the get go, telling them through positive and encouraging behaviours is the way forwards. Soon, if we do this, hopefully fulfilment will be something we know that we can all go and get and learning to live with what we’ve got just because we always have won’t be so quite the norm.

I think after lockdowns during the world wide pandemic lots of children’s confidences have been knocked more than ever before. It was such a strange and unusual experience that it’s not really surprising more children are finding that they need to seek nurture at school or find therapy elsewhere. Once a child’s confidence and belief in themselves has been knocked it’s a very hard cycle to break so introducing the idea that just because something is the way it is now, it doesn’t have to always be that way, is a very good invitation. So for children who may find themselves struggling with not just belief in themselves but with their behaviour in general, reading this book and completing the activities shared within it would be invaluable. For any child, even ones who do not suffer with any emotional issues as a result of lockdowns or anything else, this too is something to keep positively affirming their abilities to continue expanding their growth mindset. It’s all too easy to get knocked down, far harder to build back up so keeping us up is key and activities inside this book are especially good for this, like a constant reminder to keep thinking, challenging and looking at things differently.

I really enjoyed reading the book over the weekend and assisting my son to take on some of the challenges which are set out into different chapters with the book beginning with a letter to the parents, and another to the child followed by a simple explanation of how growth mindset works to enable flourishing. One flower is scared to grow too big in case someone stamps on her so she shies away from the sunshine. Another flower explains that the sunshine helps you grow and while staying small may very well keep you from getting hurt, how will you know how wonderful life can be if you don’t actually live it. A simple metaphor in a story which makes sense and draws a clear picture for any age. From there the book will help you learn which type of person you are now, which type of person you might like to be in the future and with questions and tasks it helps the child realise he or she can be more than they think they can now. Such a visual way to show children how to make their mind as healthy as possible.

I think the most important part of the book is where it discusses mistake making and challenges the child to look at mistakes and use them for the positive. A good friend of mine is a teacher and in her classroom always has a board of mistakes. when someone gets something wrong they proudly display the work because she says if you’re not making mistakes then you’re not learning so these pieces of work are the most important and best of all because they are the ones where the children have learned, the very thing they are in school to do. The book here takes a similar look in a way that a child can discover either on his or her own or with your help.

I think it’s valuable to sit down with your child and do some of the tasks together and I’m very excited about completing the book with my son, delving more deeply with him and revisiting pages and tasks that we have already looked at in a few weeks to see how he has changed. I have already seen lightbulb moments with him as the book is beginning to help him understand he is brilliant, he just has to believe in himself. Positive reinforcement about our behaviours, work and being are always welcome from others but once we own the ability to believe in ourselves positively that’s when we are really winning and with this book I think it offers a massive start in the right direction. We are very impressed with the title, the body and the ongoing effects I believe it will have.

A tremendous resource I think schools would do very well to work towards purchasing for all year 6 students before they go off to high school and all parents should welcome for their children. Currently on sale for £12.49 on Amazon and FREE for Kindle readers (I recommend making the purchase as it’s easier to work with a pen inside the actual book for this one)!

Collaboration.