Grit moms support four core concepts to help foster the grit qualities in others. We encourage making connections to all of these concepts as you experience various activities and stages of life with your child. We encourage:

Change: Our daily lives are affected by change. It’s inevitable. Kids must learn to accept change and adapt to changes that come their way.  For some parents that may mean changing perspectives for measuring success by praising effort just as much if not more than achievement. The more comfortable kids are with change, the more they can become adaptable and resourceful.  Adaptability and resourcefulness are skills they will need throughout their lives.

Power: Power can be harnessed and contained.  Kids (and adults) experience a variety of different feelings depending on the situation.  Kids don’t have the power to control all situations but they do have the power to control how they handle it.  They can either get upset and give up on a goal if they experience failure or they can learn from that failure and keep working towards that goal.  Kids have the power to give up or to persevere.  As parents, we must remind ourselves and our kids of this.

Systems: Systems are made of parts that make a whole.  There is a way of accomplishing things – a system, a path, a process.  Ask yourself and your kids, “What are the steps needed to accomplish a particular goal or task?”  Talk through those things with your kids.  Help prepare them to navigate through the steps needed to accomplish something but in the end let them actually navigate that path on their own.  Along the way, continue to show your support for them all the while staying out of the way. This understanding and practice helps reinforce drive and determination.

Relationships/Connections: Everything is connected.  Kids’ attitudes and behavior not only affect them but others. The same is true for parents.  But it is also connections that allow others to achieve.  For example, we often hear adult share stories like, “If it wasn’t for that teacher who believed in me, I wouldn’t have achieved this.”  Relationships are important. We are social beings and need to interact to share ideas and connect.  Kids need to understand that what they do and accomplish affects those around them.  Achievement should be a form of self-betterment.  It should be something that contributes positively to one’s family and society.  In the end, achievement should promote harmony for oneself and for all.  So kids need an understanding of the importance of family, their community and their world.