Have you heard your child talking about getting his or her horse moving lately?  The example came from something in the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success as a way for children to visualize how they are in control of their learning.  We discussed how we all have our own horse who can either stand still or move ahead and that only we are the ones who can make that happen.  The more we try and the more effort we give, the more that we are able to make our horses move ahead.  Likewise, when we don't try or give much effort, that same horse stands still, which means we aren't learning.  Each day, we remind ourselves of this by with this quote from the book:

"Your horse is only as fast as your brain. Every time you learn something, your horse moves ahead."

Over the past few weeks, we have tried to pay attention to our horses as we monitor our effort and understanding and we vow never to give up.  Last week we continued the conversation and tried to think deeper about this poster:

We don't do easy because "easy" refers to things that we already know, which means we aren't really learning.  Our horses are staying still when things are easy. The "hard work and learning" are talking about the actions that push us to grow and allows our brains to learn.  Our horses are moving forward when we do hard work (or work hard) and learn.  The middle part, "we make easy happen," is what happens when we continue to work and try really hard over time and have enough practice so that something that was a challenge has now become "easy."

YET is a really important word.  Next time someone says, "I can't do it!" please help open that person's mind(set) by adding the word YET.  If you are working hard and open to learning, then you CAN do it.  We have talked about what to do when something feels challenging (or even hard).  We have two choices: quit and stop trying or say "I can't do it"  OR be persistent and ask questions to understand "it" better or talk to someone–a friend, teacher, family member, etc.–and get back on track.

Parents and children: What is something that you can't do YET that you'd like to work towards?  For me, I would like to learn to knit and crochet.  I plan on reading some books, watching some videos on YouTube to learn, and talking to people I know who already know how so that I CAN do it, too.  Leave a comment telling about what you can't do YET but that you want to work towards learning.