How to give praise to your child:

There are many ways that we can reward our children for good behavior or for doing excellent work in school. Here are a few ways to praise your child without going overboard...which could cause problems down the road as they come to expect things from you:

1. Tell your child how proud you are of the process and the effort that they made for the job well done. Shifting the focus to effort illuminates the key to mastery.

2. Tell your child that they are a really great 'thinker' rather than telling them they are brillant or a genius for an A on a paper. The child put a lot of effort into the paper, so again, reward them for the process. If you tell them that they are brilliant or a genius and they fail at something, it could harm their self confidence.

3. Do not give the child material items when they do something good. Instead, tell them how proud you are of them and the effort they put into the task was excellent! If you reward with materials items, they will come to expect them from you later. Material items should be an extra special treat that you provide for them.

4. Hug the child and tell them that you are so very proud of them. Tell them that you had faith that they could achieve the task. Believing in your child is very powerful. It creates a strong bond because they believe that you are on their 'team.'