Praise Your Child

[jmb3]

I have been reminded by several people to be sure PRAISE our children. They says it takes 10-20 positive things to boost self-esteem from 1 negative comment.

So be sure to say good things to your child. Even for the little stuff. Also note when they have a made an effort and made a slight change in a behavior.

ie. You child usually gets up at meals. However, today, they sat for 5 minutes. Complement them that they did sit for 5 minutes.

Treat your kids with respect and use words to communicate. It gets you farther than yelling.

[charliegirl]

I totally agree. Our kids hear so many negatives about themselves and some of that is self talk.

They need to know there are positive things about them, things that make them special and unique. The also need to know that we do notice how hard they try and when they get things right.

Very good point to bring up jmb3! Thanks!

[misty]

Thats an important reminder! Thanks!

I notice that Shannon just basks in praise. She started doing the dishes as a chore recently & she really did a great job at it. I told her I appreciated how much care she gave to getting the dishes clean & guess what? She wanted to take on MORE nights (the agreement was 3 nights a week).

[jj]

Amen Jmb3! We as adults know how badly we can feel if we get a crummy comment from our boss. And most of us have the knowledge of how to put things in perspective and use any negative comments costructively but kids don't have that skill so much yet. So I agree, it takes a lot of positives to outweigh the negative.

[jill]

That is one of the things the parenting classes through the university taught us catch the kids being good. My daughter loves praise and will do anything to please so for her being stubborn at times she has this sweet side too. Teachers have told me she melts them with her sweetness that it the feisty side gets forgotten.

[lcdc1]

SO TRUE and important!

[unicorn]

Very, very important. It is so easy for us to dwell in the negative. But we really need to praise them for all the good, wonderful and special things they do everyday!