Parents urged to give children positive mindset

The Head of Greensprings School, Lekki campus, Mrs. Feyisara Ojugo, has enjoined parents to instil development mindset in their children using what she called “the power of yet.”

Ojugo who gave the advice during a presentation on the Thinking School philosophy held by the school, said “the power of yet” is a growth mindset language that builds children’s confidence and motivates them to keep persisting in the face of challenges, while learning a new skill.

She said: “Children and even adults easily get discouraged when it appears they are not making meaningful progress towards learning a new skill. Majority of them would conclude that they can’t do it and this stems from a fixed mindset, which demoralises repeated trials until a skill is mastered.

“To inspire confidence in children, parents should ask their wards to add the word ‘yet’ to their statement instead of saying they can’t do something. For example, instead of allowing a child to conclude he or she can’t ride a bicycle after several trials, the child should be made to say he or she can’t ride a bicycle yet.”

Ojugo noted that encouraging children to add the word “yet” to statements help them to imbibe a positive attitude towards learning and become life-long learners.

She also suggested that the “power of yet” growth mindset language should be adopted in Nigerian schools, to remind teachers that children are work-in-progress.

She said: “The power of yet isn’t only useful to parents at home, infact, it should be used more in schools, as that is the place children learn new things and pick up new skills”.

At Greensprings School, the growth mindset is ingrained in our school’s culture, and the “power of yet” helps remind both teachers and students that everyone is a life-long learner and work-in-progress.

“I believe that by using the power of yet in our various homes and schools across the country, we would be raising children who understand that practice makes perfect and never doubt their ability to achieve anything,” she concluded.