We are big fans of Angela Duckworth’s book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. If you haven’t read it yet, we encourage you to. We were so inspired by her work that we KNEW her findings were critical to the next generation of children. We felt compelled (and obligated) to teach the skills and mindset that lead to happiness and success.
Here’s a quick book recap: Duckworth studied experts in various fields to figure out what they all had in common (and she found some pretty powerful connections). Here is what she discovered about experts in their field:
- They expect fear and resistance when trying something new or pursuing something meaningful.
- They believe success comes with effort and failure, and is only bad if they let it define their worth.
- They seek out challenges that exceed their skill level, and improve their skills by doing better than they did yesterday.
- They have purpose by waking up everyday and looking for ways to make a positive mark on the day- both for themselves and others.
- They have HOPE by expecting their own efforts will change the future!
After finishing the book, we both said, WOW! This “gritty” mindset is what we all want for our children. Note, there is no mention of academics in the list. Academic performance at a certain level is understood as necessary for high-level success, but it is this other “gritty” social-emotional mindset piece that set the experts apart.
Corrie and I KNEW from our own experiences as moms and educators that what Duckworth wrote about was true. We both were high-achievers academically growing up. We were people pleasers and resisted challenges for fear of failure (and a hit on our self-esteem). We suspected this led to a lot of our job hopping in our 20’s. Unable to truly discover (or perhaps have the courage to pursue) our ultimate passion until well into our 30’s. We too often settled for an easy job that we knew we couldn’t fail at, then got bored quickly and moved on to the next. We had a fixed idea of our strengths and oftentimes gave up on our dreams when fear and obstacles came into our lives. Reading Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance allowed us to see that this familiar pattern for a lot of people was rare for the experts. We discovered that these skill not only COULD be taught but NEEDED to be taught.
We needed to teach our children these empowering skills for the benefit of themselves, their community and the world. Wonder Crate was formed with this goal in mind. Our mission became to teach ALL children social and emotional skills that will empower them to explore their world, challenge their current abilities, look for ways to make the world a better place, and expect their own efforts WILL change the future!
Each month we empower kids with a new skill that they can use to to explore their world, challenge themselves and make the world a better place. Our February crate, “ I Can Understand How Other People Feel: An Empathy Box” is full of fun activities to practice empathy with your child (Subscribe here). Looking for a gift? Our Power Pack Gift Set is perfect for giving or if you want to try before you subscribe (Shop now).
