Specific Praise
You hear a lot of people say, “Good Job”. However, this vague, common compliment isn’t taken in to a kid’s heart in a meaningful way. There’s no meat to it. It’s what we hear all day long and what we frankly say without much thought.
When you want to really compliment your child, pause and find one thing, in particular, you notice about their good work or the effort they put into what they’re doing. Now, these are the types of compliments that stick.
Examples:
“I love the mix of different reds you used and how they combine here in the sky.”
“I like how you added all the houses; it makes it look like a happy village.”
“I noticed how you high-fived Sammy after her goal; that was really caring.”
“I can see how hard you worked on that project and the care you put into it.”
“In your story, when the rabbit said, ‘Ahem, Ahem’, I laughed out loud!”
“I noticed the way you invited George to play. That was very thoughtful of you.”
“There were so many juicy details in your writing, like when you described all the places that particular shuttle had already been. That was super interesting to me.”
