As a mindset coach, I am always thinking of ways to encourage my 9-year-old daughter to be more resilient and how to navigate life. I would say that she identifies as highly sensitive, a trait which I think is great. It makes her a great supportive friend, a lovely daughter and a loving big sister. However, it also means that it doesn’t take much to knock her confidence and self-esteem, and making mistakes or feeling like she has failed in something can make her feel low. This is so common in kids around this age, especially girls. They are constantly comparing themselves to their peers and there is so much pressure in schools that it can all be too much for them, and for this reason, mindset work is so important. Kids internalise so much and it’s important for them to be ok with making mistakes and to have the tools to deal with things not being perfect all of the time.

The brilliant Daddilife have just released The Growth Mindset Workbook through their Daddilife Books division. The book is aimed for kids aged 6-12 and contains 60 mindset-based activities and a 7-day journal. The activities are focused on different areas of growth mindset and mindset shifts. It is a really engaging and fun workbook with lovely illustrations, and each activity has a ‘take away’ section which is useful for reflecting on what you have learned. Kids are able to work through the book independently. However some activities require an adult’s participation and these are clearly marked. I personally think it is good to work through the book together to make it more engaging and to get an idea of what support they need or what challenges they are facing.

The book has seven chapters:

• Me and My Growth Mindset
• Mistakes Are Just New Challenges
• The Power of YET
• Being an incredible Problem Solver
• Trying New Ways to Do Things & Keep Trying
• Dreaming Big
• 7 day journal

The first activity, which is about getting to know your mind, is great and offers kids the chance to practice self-awareness. One of Amber’s favourite activities was learning about her brain and how each part of the brain works. Cognitive health is an interest of mine, so I enjoyed this activity too. Amber was already familiar with the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, so she enjoyed that activity and she said it was good to be reminded of them.

In my opinion, the best section was the one based on how mistakes are just new opportunities. This is something that Amber needed the most support for. Like me, she is a perfectionist and if she doesn’t get something exactly right it can go on to affect her confidence. The activity in this section is a great problem-solving exercise. There is also an opportunity for them to work with a grown-up and ask about a mistake that they have made in the past and what they learned from this mistake. I loved doing this activity and reflecting on previous mistakes and how it encouraged me to try again.

I love that there was no toxic positivity in this workbook and that it teaches kids to embrace their feelings and worries and most importantly, how to face these head on. The problem solving activities are really good and give kids the opportunity to think about how they would navigate certain scenarios at school or at home.

The bonus for us was the 7-day journal at the end of the book. We do gratitude journaling together at bedtime, so Amber enjoyed this section. The journal has space to reflect on the day and the growth mindset behaviours that they used, as well as a prompt to think about something that they want to do differently next time. I would recommend buying a kids’ journal to use after the 7 days of using this one as it’s a really helpful way for kids to share their feelings and worries, and even as a way to practice gratitude going forward.

The Growth Mindset Workbook is £12.49 for the paperback version. In my opinion, this is great value for the amount of content inside and the benefit that it will have on their overall mindset. Even as a mindset coach myself, it has given me ideas to use going forward with Amber and clients.