Catch Your Kids Being Good!
Nothing beats the feeling when you’re told that you’ve done a good job; especially by someone that you admire. Kids feel the same way. It’s probably one of the easiest way to ensure that our kids continue to do good (well, that and maybe candy); positively praising our children encourages them to continue to be good and do good things.
When should we praise our children?
-Any time they complete a task that we ask of them
-Anytime they do something WITHOUT being told
-Anytime they have done something nice for someone or helped someone
How should we praise our children?
Especially for our littles, it’s important to praise them by getting on their level and looking them in the eye ensuring that we have each other’s undivided attention and ensure that they understand what they did was something good. This makes all the difference. It provides a closeness and a bonding moment that is unsurpassable. As parents, this isn’t always feasible; sometimes it’s yelling “Good Job!” from the kitchen sink when your little said that they just went potty on the toilet. Or, saying a quick “Thank You” in passing when your child threw away their snack wrapper. But by stopping and make it a point to say what a good job our kids have done or how much we appreciate them helping when needed, we can make a huge difference in not only their lives and our lives, but the lives of those whom our children interact with on a daily basis. And using the Effective Praise Method, makes it easy.
Effective Praise Method Steps
-Show Your Approval
Using your words and actions to show approval ie: giving a high-five, a thumbs up, a pat on the back, or saying “Good Job”, “Thanks”, “Awesome”
-Describe The Positive
Ensuring your child understands that what they did was good, specifically what they did to deserve your praise, ie: Thank you so much for taking out the garbage”, “You did a really good thing by telling me that your brother was not being safe”
-Giving A Reason
Showing your child that if they continue to do good things, they get rewarded ie: “if you take out the garbage tomorrow, i’ll let you have an extra 15 minutes of TV/tablet/video game time”, “Telling me that your brother was not being safe shows me that I can trust you to watch out for your little brother”
Let’s try it out!
So, you just caught your child helping another child up after they fell down.
You could shout to your child, telling them they did a good job helping; maybe they hear you, before they run off to go play some more.
But, the more effective way to ensure your child heard you and to encourage your child to continue to do good things is to: walk over to them, crouch down, look them in the eyes and tell them that what they did; helping that other child was a good thing to do, that they did a good job, that you are proud of them for keeping other children safe. In addition, you could give your child some physical affection and/or a reward of your choosing.
So, lets show our children how much we appreciate the things that they do that help us and others out!