HOW TO RAISE SUCCESSFUL KIDS

What can parents do to ensure their child gets the best chance to fulfil their potential? This is far from straightforward, since it won’t be immediately apparent where a child’s strengths and talents lie. Instead,  the best approach is to encourage whatever inclinations and interests they show. This means not just allowing them to pursue directions that would not be the parents’ first choice, like becoming a poet rather than a physician, says Dean Keith Simonton of the University of California, Davis, but encouraging them and recognising that some investments may not pan out. “After spending all that money on ice hockey gear, finding your kid drops out in the first year – ouch!” Even if children don’t end up pursuing  a particular subject, sport or instrument, attaining proficiency in one domain helps them understand how to build long-lasting skills in others. Perhaps the best advice of  all is for parents to teach their children what Carol Dweck of Stanford University calls a “growth mindset” – the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and practice and aren’t fixed by biology (see main story). She counsels parents to praise effort and progress, not intelligence and talent. The former will encourage them to keep trying; the latter will make them want to  give up at the first scent of failure.