Looking For The Good
Praise and appreciation are vital to a child’s positive growth. We instinctively know this as parents, but aren’t always in the right mind frame to do so.
Instead of waiting for your child to do something wrong and then chastising them for it, catch them doing something good and praise them for it. Children can make dozens of “mistakes” in any given day, and if caught each time, receive an unfair amount of “No’s”, “Stop’s” and “Don’ts”, words that don’t exactly encourage positive change.
Next time your child does something you don’t agree with, tell them “I’d prefer if you didn’t do that” or “Can you please keep your voice down indoors?”. Speaking to your children in this way reduces conflict and encourages a change in behavior.
More importantly, next time your child cleans their room on their own or puts the dishes away, make sure you thank them for the effort and that it really helps when they pitch in around the house. By doing so, you make your child feel good about the actions they performed and encourage more of the same.
Even as adults, we need to feel appreciated and recognized for our good deeds. It’s never too early to treat your kids with the same respect you expect yourself as a grown man. Through continued encouragement, you are actually improving your child’s chances of succeeding in life, a goal that I imagine you are trying to accomplish with the “No’s”, “Stop’s” and “Don’ts”.
Discussion Points:
- Do you think it’s more important to catch your children doing good or telling them to stop doing something you don’t like or agree with?
- Do you think encouragement is a valid form of “discipline” by teaching your children to do good instead of not doing bad?
fatherhood, looking for the good
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