Growth Mindset at Home: Parenting Tips for a Great School Year (2026–2027)
DASHSTROM PARENT RESOURCES
As the 2026–2027 school year gets underway, we are thinking about the usual checklist: school supplies, schedules, new teachers, new sports seasons. But one of the most powerful tools we have for helping our children enjoy, thrive in, and push through the challenges of this year isn't on any supply list. It's the language we use every day, especially in the moments right after our children try something hard.
Decades of research from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck on growth mindset show that the words parents and coaches choose after a success, a mistake, or a stumble shape whether a child comes to see challenges as threats to avoid or as opportunities to grow. At DashStrom, our coaches watch this shift happen in real time, week after week, on fields and in gyms across our partner schools. Here's what the research says, what that shift actually looks like from the sideline, and how we can carry growth mindset language into our homes this year.
Why Our Words Matter More Than the Outcome
Dweck's research distinguishes between a fixed mindset, the belief that ability is something you either have or don't, and a growth mindset, the belief that ability develops through effort, strategy, and practice. Children who come to believe intelligence or athletic ability is fixed tend to protect that identity by avoiding hard things; children who believe ability can grow tend to lean into difficulty instead.
The nuance many parents miss is that praising effort alone isn't the full story. In a widely cited interview, Dweck pushed back on the common oversimplification of her own work, explaining that adults often praise effort even when a child hasn't actually improved or learned anything, which can ring hollow to kids. Genuine effort matters, but children also need a repertoire of strategies and the willingness to ask for help when they're stuck, not sheer effort alone. What actually builds a growth mindset, according to Dweck, is praise that connects a specific strategy or process to a specific improvement, tying the “how” to the “what changed.”
That distinction matters for how we talk to our children after a practice, test, or a hard day at school. Instead of “You're so smart” or even a generic “great effort,” try naming exactly what they did: which strategy they tried, what they adjusted, how they stuck with something past the point they wanted to quit.
The Power of “Not Yet”
One of the simplest shifts a parent can make this year is a single word: yet. Dweck's research has found that adding “not yet” after a setback increases a child's persistence and their confidence that they'll eventually succeed. “I'm not good at this... yet” reframes a fixed statement about ability into a statement about a timeline, and timelines can move.
This is especially useful early in a school year, when new material, new teammates, and new expectations mean kids are hitting unfamiliar difficulty constantly. When a child says “I can't do this,” we can move past the pep talk about talent. We can begin to use that one small word that keeps the door to trying again open. “Yet.”
What Coaches See: The Shift From Doubt to Confidence
This is the part of growth mindset philosophy that can be hard to picture from a book, but it's the part our coaches see happen constantly in DashStrom’s growth mindset training classes. It rarely looks like a child becoming the fastest kid on the field or the first to master a skill. More often, it looks like a child who used to hang back from a challenge, arms crossed, saying “I can't,” now stepping up to try it anyway. It's the child who used to quit after one failed attempt at a balance drill or an obstacle, and now resets, adjusts their footing, and tries again without being asked.
Our coaches will tell you: the child who becomes visibly proud isn't always the one who finishes first. It's the one who gave a hard challenge their genuine best effort, especially after doubting themselves at the start. That distinction between speed or skill and honest effort is exactly what the research on youth physical activity backs up. Research on children and adolescents shows that effort, the overall energy a child invests in physical activity, is strongly linked to performing well, achieving success, and getting the most benefit from participation. In other words, the outcome that predicts a child's future isn't how naturally gifted they looked in one class. It's whether they learned to show up and give a hard thing real effort, again and again.
That's the shift we're really training at DashStrom: not a faster mile time or a perfect catch, but a child who no longer needs to be the best at something to be willing to try it.
Growth Mindset Phrases to Try This Year
A few small language swaps you can start using at home right away:
Instead of “You're a natural at this,” try “You figured out a strategy that worked.”
Instead of “Great job!” try “I noticed you kept adjusting until you got it.”
Instead of “You can't do this,” encourage “You can't do this yet.”
Instead of “Are you the best on the team?” try “What's something hard you tried today?”
Instead of focusing only on wins, ask “What did you learn when your first try didn’t work?”
Setting the Tone for the Year Ahead
Every school year brings a fresh set of challenges: harder material, new social dynamics, new physical skills to master. Children don't need to be protected from all of that difficulty. Research consistently suggests they need to be equipped to face it, with language that keeps effort, strategy, and persistence at the center rather than talent or outcome alone.
If this sounds daunting, be assured, it’s not an instant shift. Incorporating ideas that show what’s possible, like adding “not yet” can be a powerful place to start. See what happens for yourself. Then find ways to notice a strategy instead of the grade. Start by asking what they tried instead of what they won. Over a school year, these small shifts can add up. The outcome? Our children begin to trust their ability to grow, one hard try at a time.
SOURCES
1. Carol Dweck, “Growth Mindset and the Future of Our Children,” Parents League of New York. https://www.parentsleague.org/blog/growth-mindset-and-future-our-children
2. “Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset,’” Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring. https://www.evidencebasedmentoring.org/carol-dweck-revisits-the-growth-mindset/
3. “Expectancy-Value Motivation and Physical Activity- and Health-Related Outcomes among At-Risk Children and Adolescents,” National Library of Medicine (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10341207/
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