My husband and I just recently read the Mindset book by Carol Dweck and we've been blown away. As I was reading, I immediately realized that I had a fixed mindset growing up. Mostly because of the way I was praised by my parents and teachers at school.

Besides praising the effort, we should also allow our kids to fail without any circumstances. In fact, some say we should praise our kids when they fail, because it means they actually attempted a difficult task.

One of the most prominent “promoters” of failure is Sara Blakely, a self-made billionaire and the founder of Spanx.
She shares how her dad encouraged her to fail. At the dinner table, Sara’s dad would ask what she failed at that week. He would high-five her if she tried and failed. To Sara failing means not trying.

I highly recommend reading Mindset book and this article describing 7 strategies for setting our children up for success. Scroll down the article to get a free report on how successful people were raised by their parents - very interesting!