Be Specific When Praising

When you are praising your child, be specific about what the praise is for. Children need to learn to evaluate their own success. When you are not specific, they have a hard time understanding exactly what it is they have done well. Being specific can be hard to do every single time we are giving our children a compliment. There will be many times you don’t even hear half of what your child is telling you and you simple say, “Good Job.” We are not perfect, it happens. But try to be specific as often as you can remember to. Instead of telling her, “Good job cleaning your room,” you might say, ‘You did a very good job putting all your toys where they go. Your room looks great, thank you.” Another example could be, “I am so happy that you cleaned up the juice you spilled, and thank you for putting the dirty clothes into the laundry.” Remember to tell your child thank you. Your child will know that you appreciate what she does and in return she will want to continue pleasing you. Using these techniques, your child will feel more confident about the praise, and she will have a better understanding of what she has done well so she can keep on doing it.