When kids feel nervous about tests, games or performances

Watch Video: When kids feel nervous about tests, games or performances by Carol Dweck, PhD, ...
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When kids feel nervous about tests, games or performances

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Parents often wonder how they can reassure their child when their child is nervous before a test or a game or a performance. Many parents are tempted to tell their kids, "You are smart," or "You'll do great," or "You'll do well." Sometimes this makes the child more nervous, because they will think, "I'm not so sure I'm so smart," or "I'm not so sure I'll do well." The best way is to tell them to really give all, try their best, do everything they can, and that's enough. They have control over that. They don't have control over whether they are perfect or brilliant, but they have control over whether they try hard and give all. They are likely to do best under those circumstances.

Watch Video: When kids feel nervous about tests, games or performances by Carol Dweck, PhD, ...

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Carol Dweck, PhD

Psychologist & Author

Carol S. Dweck, PhD, is a leading researcher in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford. Her research focuses on why students succeed and how to foster their success. More specifically, her work has demonstrated the role of mindsets in success and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine students’ motivation and learning.

She has also held professorships at and Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured to education, business, and sports groups all over the world, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and to the National Academy of Sciences. She recently won the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, the highest award in Psychology. 

Her work has been prominently featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, and The London Times, with recent feature stories on her work in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post, and she has appeared on such shows as Today, Good Morning America, NPR’s Morning Edition, and 20/20. Her bestselling book Mindset (published by Random House) has been widely acclaimed and has been translated into 20 languages.

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