Wellbeing

The power of the word 'YET'.

I was fortunate enough to go on a holiday to Fiji last school holidays with many of my extended family. I had a beautiful moment with my 10 year old nephew as we stood with our feet in the crystal clear water and it made me realise I need to share my thoughts and knowledge about the power of the word YET.

My nephew was becoming increasingly frustrated with his snorkel as we watched all of the other cousins out in the water. I had tried all of the encouragement I could think of and we'd adjust the snorkel at least 100 times, you know how fiddley those snorkels can be!

Then it came... the dummy spit.....  the snorkel was thrown to the ground the tears started and the words were said.....  'I can't do it Aunty Rikki!!!'  After taking a deep breath myself, because I was frustrated also as I really wanted him to be able to do it,  I said to him ...... 'No, you can't do it YET!' 

Developing a growth mindset means that we believe that we can achieve most things with persistence and practice. Our students at St Anne's spend lots of time developing a growth mindset. This means understanding that there are things they can't do yet and that is ok. With this type of mindset the children know that these can be improved and mastered with further practice. 

So to my beautiful nephew I used the sentence 'We need to take a deep breath and flip our thinking to be, I can't do this YET!'  With this statement and new way of thinking about snorkelling he was able to practice over the next couple of days and successfully snorkel with his cousins!

I hope that next time you hear the sentence 'I can't do this!' you might be able to remember my snorkeling story and channel your inner growth mindset and throw out the word YET!

Rikki Winduss

Wellbeing Leader