Kids Awareness Series

Positive parenting and positive interactions are the key to not get caught in the trap of negativity and yelling that seem to permeate many of today’s homes. A wonderful exercise that promotes praise and increases parents and children’s skills on using “verbal” rewards is Ways to Praise our Children.

The way to start this exercise with your family is to ask each family member to come up with as many ways as they can think of to say, “great job” or “well done.” Verbal acceptance or praise is such an important component in our daily interactions with our children and promotes and increases their self-esteem. Too often, all of us get into a pattern of scolding or yelling at our kids for what they have done wrong, that we forget to praise them for what they have done right.

Each family member should write down on small sheets of paper the ways to praise and be enthusiastic and model it for your kids. Ask each member of the family to keep a note of how many times they have heard someone praise someone else in the family. The goal of this exercise is to get all family members in the habit of taking responsibility for providing positive feedback to their parents and to each other.

Some suggestions for ways to praise are:
Well done
Great
What a great helper!
I love it when you …
You have done really well
I am so proud of you
You have made my day
That is fantastic

and so on and so on. You can make up as many of these as you want and make it fun for your family by being silly and exaggerate your tone or make funny faces, whatever you have to do to make it work for your family. For families that have gotten into a negative way to dealing and talking to others, this exercise will be much more difficult and awkward to complete. When your list is done, post it in a prominent place in your house such as on the refrigerator so there is a constant reminder to everyone that verbal praise should be given regularly.