Don't Praise Your Kids Too Much!

Kids

oi-Staff

Thursday, November 5, 2009, 16:31

When praise do have a positive influence on kids, too much of praise can have its negative impacts too. In the modern world, too much of praise can lead to performance anxiety and sap motivation in kids. child development,dr patricia edgar,education,maths problem,modern world,performance anxiety,sap motivation,smart kids,television,test scores have been told so often how great they are, they may see all peers as rivals, often lie about their test scores, and actually perform less well the more praise they get for being smart.

It is always better to praise the kids for process. Be generous to congratulate them, when they tackle a maths problem rather than whether or not they get it right. Praise the kids for trying, for the effort put into a task and their performance improves.

Kids have a pretty good in-built crap detector. They know when praise is false and when praise given is not warranted and it"s pretty scary having to be the best all the time. There is too much emphasis on winning, so if children don't win they give up.

Parents should praise children for doing their best. The research is clear that those children who are rewarded for doing their best will continue to strive to improve.

Author, TV producer and educator Dr Patricia Edgar conducted this study. The study came in Shine, a monthly publication of Victoria"s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.