I am from a northern state and moved to Georgia. Georgia isn’t quite Alabama, South Carolina, or Mississippi in its “southernness,” but it’s still in the south.
Being from a northern state, I had never given much thought Nurturing Nurturing to the term “grit” as it relates to one’s character. Sandpaper, sure. Personality, not so much.
Dictionary.com says that grit is courage and resolve; strength of character. Up North, synonyms like courageous, brave, plucky, backbone, nerve, resolve, resiliency, and tenacity are more commonly used to describe personality. But, but this Jersey girl finds something endearing about the all-encompassing “grit” that makes me romanticize it as a personality trait. One that I hope HJ and JW develop.
I read a study about how kids display “grit.” According to an article posted by www.weforum.org, Dr. Rachel E. White, from Hamilton College, and graduate students Emily Prager and Catherine Schaefer from the University of Minnesota, tested four and six-years-olds by giving them a boring computer task and asking them to do it for 10 minutes. The idea is that kids who stick with the task the longest display the most grit.
To see how self-perception influences kids’ ability to stay focused and determined the researchers assigned the kids into one of three groups.
Kids assigned to the first group were told to ask themselves “Am I working hard?” while they completed the task.
Kids assigned to the second group were told to think of themselves in the third-person and ask themselves “Is [insert child’s name] working hard?”
Kids assigned to the third group were asked to think about someone else who is really good at working hard. According to the article they could pick from some well-known superhero types: Batman, Bob the Builder, Rapunzel, and Dora the Explorer and dress up as that character to complete the task. These children were told to ask themselves “Is Batman [or whatever character they picked] working hard?”
Results show that, “Children who were asked to reflect on the task as if they were another person were less likely to indulge in immediate gratification and more likely to work toward a relatively long-term goal,” Meaning, the kids who dressed up and thought about themselves as someone they admire worked on the task longer than those who did not. In this case perseverance to complete the task is being used as a proxy for grit, but I think perseverance is likely a big component of GRIT.
So, I need to encourage HJ and JW to dress up like Batman to instill grit? Not exactly. The secret to achieving this aspect of grit is being able to reframe the circumstances to be less tempted, more focused, and better able to cope. According to the article, reframing is “learning how to mentally “cool” the “hot” aspects of an environment which tempt you.” The authors go on to explain that by donning a cape and mask, the kids from the recent study were better at what psychologists call ‘self-distancing’. One reason the kids engaged in imaginary play had better focus might be that pretending to be another person allowed the greatest separation from the temptation. A second potential explanation is that the kids in costume identified with the powerful character traits of the superhero and wanted to imitate them. Whatever the cause, the superheroes showed more grit.
