Encouragement is like nectar for families.
Encouragement is one of the most powerful ways to boost family relationships. Encouragement can change the way parents interact with all kinds of children — special, spirited, disabled, temporarily able-bodied, typical and more!
Encouragement is easy to learn and can be practiced daily. See my free tip sheet on encouragement and get some more tips on this short video.
Tags: familiy relationships
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October 7, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Hi Susan!
I think your point is an excellent one and it’s certainly something that I’ve never thought about before in the context of parenting.
I do think, however, that praise does have its place and I don’t think that it is necessarily a negative thing.
My parents will often tell me that they are proud of me, and it could be for something simple, like being a good sister or daughter. Sometimes, they tell me they are proud of me for just being who I am. If we’re going to a fancy event, my dad will say that he’s proud to be accompanied by two beautiful women (my mom and me). My grandpa was always full of praise, and when I’m down, I’ll often remember the things he used to say to me when he was alive. It was all praise – praise for how well I was doing in school, praise for how happy I made my parents, praise for having a good job etc. The constant stream of encouragement AND praise from my parental figures remains like money in the bank when I am feeling insecure.
Praise is deserved sometimes, and when deserved, I believe it should be given.
October 12, 2010 at 7:52 am
Hi Kate- I know your parents were feeling genuine about you and your attributes. Encouragement is a way of tweaking the praise to make it lower key and more about the effort and the person.
Could your parents praise you after failure? Praise is reserved for success and accomplishments.
We most need encouragement after failures. In order to succeed, we must be able to try again after failure. So we need courage, badly!