TL;DR: Your child’s belief in their ability to improve (growth mindset) significantly impacts their reading success. Instead of labeling them as “struggling,” focus on making reading fun, following their interests, and emphasizing that practice leads to improvement. Studies show children labeled as “struggling” by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school, but promoting a growth mindset can help change this trajectory.
Did you know that your expectations can actually affect your child’s performance? If you call your child a gifted reader and tell them they have potential, they’ll rise to the occasion – but if you label your child as a struggling reader or say “you failed,” your child will sink. In fact, one study found kids were four times more likely to drop out of high school if they had been labeled as “struggling” by the time they reached third grade.
The good news is that it’s possible to flip the script no matter what your child’s reading ability – and you can do that by helping your reader to develop a growth mindset.
The concept of having a “growth mindset” was coined by Dr. Carol Dweck in 2006. At its core, a growth mindset is the belief that if you keep practicing at something, you’ll get better at it. That’s in contrast to a “fixed mindset,” where you believe you can’t change how you are no matter what you do. Kids tend to shift from growth mindsets to fixed mindsets right around the third grade.
Having a growth mindset clearly ties into those “prophecy-fulfilling” expectations we set for our kids. If we tell our kids they’re bad at reading and that’s just the way it is, they’ll believe us. On the other hand, if we encourage a growth mindset and help our kids keep practicing reading, they may be more likely to decide not to let challenges get in their way.
If you’re freaking out because you’ve already told your child they struggle at reading or they’re not a good reader, don’t worry! It’s not too late to change the situation. Here are three key steps to encourage a growth mindset:
Pro Tip: Remember that pushing your child to read may cause them to push back. Let them take the lead in choosing what to read – what matters most is that they’re reading, not what they’re reading.
By making reading fun and interesting while following your child’s lead, you create positive experiences that build confidence. Each small success leads to another, gradually transforming reading from a dreaded task into an enjoyable activity. More importantly, you’re building a supportive relationship with your child that helps them tackle future challenges with confidence.
Track Your Reading Journey with Era
Want to document your child’s reading progress and celebrate their growth mindset moments? Era makes it easy to capture these meaningful milestones. Use our chat-style journaling to record reading achievements, take photos of your child enjoying their favorite books, or use our AI-powered prompts to reflect on their reading journey. With Era’s positive parenting journal features, you can focus on progress over perfection and build a beautiful record of your child’s reading development.
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