.: Motivating Your Child Top Related Articles
1). Praise: Can Too Much Damage Your Child's Self-Esteem?
For the purpose of this article, I’m making a distinction between praise and sincere admiration. I see praise as an attempt to manipulate another’s behavior for your own ends. When you praise someone, you are doing it because you hope that they will repeat whatever behavior came before the praise.
This may be a good thing when you are training a dog (I don’t have a dog so I can’t say for sure), but I’m not sold on the idea of ‘training’ our kids with the verbal equivalent of scooby snacks.
Article tags: parenting advice, praise, discipline, children, positive reinforcement, behavior management, parenting, motivating your child, self-esteem
2). Tapping Your Child's Inner Motivation
This article addresses some practical questions raised by parents in response to my suggestion that praising too much is actually counter-productive while trying to motivate our children.
~~ But if I’m not praising and not punishing, what do I do instead? ~~
Try simply communicating your sincere admiration, gratitude, and appreciation when it arises.
Article tags: parenting advice, discipline, motivating your child, intrinsic motivation, punished by rewards, external validation, self-esteem