Parenting taught me that labeling kids as smart can be crippling for them.
Firstly, the label only applies to certain test-reflective metrics and may not align with an ability to achieve the given goals.
Secondly, smart kids didn't create their intelligence and won't know much about it. And problematically, the label can create unrealistic expectations - for both kids and adults.
By the time kid #3 was in school, I was advising teachers to just ignore whatever aptitude they thought they saw and just focus on how well my child's effort was resulting in the desired outcome.
Firstly, the label only applies to certain test-reflective metrics and may not align with an ability to achieve the given goals.
Secondly, smart kids didn't create their intelligence and won't know much about it. And problematically, the label can create unrealistic expectations - for both kids and adults.
By the time kid #3 was in school, I was advising teachers to just ignore whatever aptitude they thought they saw and just focus on how well my child's effort was resulting in the desired outcome.