Upon experiencing failure, others’ expectation for success can backfire and hurt an individual’s performance when stated explicitly. The current study examined the effects of different types of success expectations (trait- vs. effort-based) that influence children’s performance. Across two experiments, 131 five- and six-year-old children completed a novel and challenging drawing task. After experiencing failure, children in the trait-based expectation condition performed worse than did those in the effort-based and no feedback conditions. These findings suggest that the effects of success expectations vary largely depending on the attribution of the expectations. Theoretically, the current study expands research on theory of intelligence by demonstrating that detrimental effects of trait feedback apply to the domain of success expectations. Practically, the current investigation provides an effective way to encourage children after experiencing failure.