Are You Offering Your Kids the Right Kind of Praise?
posted on Mar 23, 2022
Well Done! Good job! Bravo! Keep it up!
As parents, all of us shower such praises on our kids whenever they do something good. Isn’t it! After all, it’s a normal impulse as parents to express our love for our kids by praising them. It is a general way to showcase our appreciation and offer them the motivation to keep doing the good work.
At Gurukul The School, recognized among the best schools in Ghaziabad, we believe that praising children is very beneficial as it boosts their confidence and improves their self-esteem.
However, such encouraging messages may not always be as helpful as we think they should be! If the praising and appreciation is offered at the wrong time or in the wrong way, it can have a negative effect on the kids as well.
- When you overdo the praises, it ends up having the opposite impact on the kids, and they will lose the motivation to do any task.
- There are some praises that are more relevant and effective than others. Praise with the wrong words can reduce their interest in taking on new challenging tasks and lower their chances of being successful. But when used effectively, praises can help improve your child’s behavior issues.
- There are also some right and wrong ways to praise your kids. When you praise your kids the “wrong” way, it can make them dependent on other people’s opinions and make them reluctant to take on challenges as they are afraid to fail. However, if done the right way, praise can teach your kids the value of effort. It will help improve their overall personality and mindset and encourage them to be strong during challenging times.
We, at Gurukul The School, one of the best schools in Ghaziabad, believe that praising your kids in the right way is a very important tool to help influence their development positively. As parents, you need to be mindful to deliver the right kind of praise to your kids with the correct message as it will help motivate your little one and work towards building his character. All it takes is a simple tweak in the wordings of your encouraging messages. To that end, here are a few effective tips that can help you praise the right way:
Instead of praising your child with generic statements like “Very nice!” get specific so that they can understand what they did to deserve the praise. The more specific you get, the more they would be able to learn from it and possibly repeat it. So, if they have cleaned their room and put away their toys, you can say, “Wow, your room looks very nice. It’s great to see that you have put away all your toys by yourself!”
If you want your child to be brave, kind, and responsible by their very nature, then you need to focus more on their character. Praise your child by describing their good qualities by saying something like, “You are a kind person who always shares your toys!”, “You are a brave child who does not get scared of dogs!” or “You are a responsible child who takes care of everyone in the family!” This way, by affirming the quality repeatedly, you basically reinforce these positive virtues in their character.
- Focus on the effort, not the outcome:
If you have seen your child working hard on anything, do not skip praising him for his efforts. Remember, the praise should be for the efforts that the child has poured in and not for the outcome. For instance, if your child has played his best yet lost in the finals of badminton, try saying, “I am so proud of you for your dedication to the game and giving your best shot!” When you praise them for their effort, it motivates them further and passes on the message to your child that you believe in him.
In the end, we, at Gurukul The School, one of the best schools in Ghaziabad, would just like our respectable parent fraternity to always remember that the best praises are those that are genuine, realistic, and well-deserved. Your praise is most effective to your child when you deliver it for their praise-worthy behavior. Keep in mind that your praises for your children hold the power of making or breaking their intrinsic motivation. Hence, remain thoughtful!