Praise the Hard Work, Not the Intelligence

Should we praise our kids' hard work or their intelligence? Should we make our kids believe that their failure is based on lack of effort of lack of ability? The answer is hard work, or lack of effort. It turns out that less emphasis should be given to intelligence and or lack of it, because believing too much on one's intelligence prevents one from living up to one's potential, and believing too much on one's lack of intelligence depresses motivation. As parents, we need to praise the hard work of our kids, and at the same time help kids understand the consequence of lack of hard work. For more, read The Secret to Raising Smart Kids.

The video below shows a research on how praising the hard work makes children want to work harder but praising the brilliance makes children more unable to cope with failure.