How Angela Duckworth teaches her kids grit

The famed researcher and author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance explains her "hard things rule," which she's using as a parent to instill stick-to-itiveness in her kids.
by:
YouTube video

Learn more about raising kids with grit:

This article is part of a new series on how the science of character development can help parents promote honesty, diligence, gratitude, generosity, forgiveness, and curiosity in their children.

Video transcript

“In our family, we have something that we call the hard thing rule and it goes like this. Everybody in our family, including Mom and Dad, have to do a hard thing. Something that requires practice so that you can get better gradually over time. The second thing is that you have to finish what you begin. If you start the track season, you have to finish the track season. If I pay the tuition bill for your viola classes, you’re going to finish that semester. The third part of the hard thing rule preserves my child’s autonomy and that is nobody gets to pick your hard thing but you. Yes, you have to practice. Yes, you have to finish what you began but you’re in charge of picking what that hard thing is.”

About the author

GreatSchools.org is a national nonprofit with a mission to help every child obtain a high-quality education that values their unique abilities, identities, and aspirations. We believe in the power of research-backed, actionable information to empower parents, family members, and educators to help make this happen. For 25 years, the GreatSchools Editorial Team has been working to make the latest, most important, and most actionable research in education, learning, and child development accessible and actionable for parents through articles, videos, podcasts, hands-on learning resources, email and text messaging programs, and more. Our team consists of journalists, researchers, academics, former teachers and education leaders — most of whom are also dedicated parents and family members — who not only research, fact check, and write or produce this information, but who use it in our daily lives as well. We welcome your feedback at editorial@greatschools.org.