Winston Churchill states, “continuous effort-not strength or intelligence-is key to unlocking our potential”. In other words, Churchill believes that hard work is the foundation of success. Success is achieved through effort, making mistakes, choosing to learn from them, and continuing forward. Many individuals, however, have preconceived notions of intelligence and presume it is innate and fixed. On the other hand, Carol Dweck has proven these preconceived opinions to be untrue. In fact, Dweck has over thirty years of scientific research to prove that an overstatement on academic or creative tasks leaves individuals fearful of challenges, vulnerable to failure, and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings. In Dweck's article “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” she emphasizes that praising children is essential to their …show more content…
As an illustration, if your toddler said thank you after receiving something they had asked for, you should then praise the action by saying “it was very nice of you to say thank you”, rather than just saying “good job”. In turn, this helps the toddler understand the behavior that is being praised. In sum, then praising children is fundamental to their intelligence and development; however, such praise has to be carefully phrased. Intellectual and ability praise is not only harmful to the child's growth, but it can also be detrimental to the relationship between parents and their children. Furthermore, without the proper wording of the praise children may see it as empty and feel as though they lack the ability of the task at hand. Nevertheless, there is still time to change how children are praised and step them up for success by teaching them set backs, failure, and effort are