“Way to go!”, “Give me a high-five!” When kids receive praise, they know they’ve done a good job and it encourages them to “keep up the good work!”. Kids beam when they receive accolades for their achievements and it encourages future good work. Kids need positive reinforcement, especially initially, until they develop their own voice of self-encouragement by believing in themselves. At any age, it always feels good to receive encouragement and praise and can be a positive force for inspiration for further endeavors.

Likewise, a child may feel dejected because of struggles with achievement or being unaccepted by peers. It is important that parents and teachers be on the lookout for signs of this and encourage them with “well, it didn’t go as planned, but let’s look at the positive take-aways and be optimistic at what the future holds”. Encouraging a child to persevere and move past discouragement teaches optimism, self-respect, self-esteem building, and perseverance. Children need to learn to look beyond the current moment of trial as an area of transition and look at the overall picture of life with new moments to look forward to. Additionally, some children without these perseverance skills or healthy support systems may feel suicidal. Parents and teachers need to look for those kids who are facing despair and reach out to them to find out what is going on. Besides encouraging them, you might as very well be saving a life!

@cultureofkind

Books to encourage…Amazon reads