Do you appreciate your child enough?
Appreciation is for kids, like water is to plants. They simply need it to thrive, to grow. I am not talking about empty praises, but genuine heartfelt appreciation. The kind that you as an adult need when you invest your time and energy into doing something meaningful, productive, beautiful, helpful, kind, however small the deed is.
Kids need more of this appreciation at every small step, so that they get enough good validation. This good validation fills them up with healthy self esteem. The kind of self esteem that they need to understand that life can be tough, things can be tricky but that doesn’t mean that they are not good enough. A healthy self esteem ensures that we do not take mishaps personally.
That’s why kids need appreciation, kind words, encouragement as an essential part of everyday communication (read this blog for more insights) with our kids across all ages.
Now let’s look at, how to appreciate our kids for their big and small achievements:
- Acknowledge the small deeds that build up to good values and habits: speaking the truth, helping you around the house, helping friends out, calling out on a bluff, being brave when scared and so on.
- Take time out to thank them when they help you
- Pat them on their back for every achievement big and small
- Encourage their kind deeds and other values that they exhibit.
- Remember that your appreciation means the world to them.
- Ensure that you are honest and genuine
- Don’t be too loose with your praises either or overdo it. Setting fairly high standards is important as well. But ensure that you don’t ruin their self esteem by holding out on the encouragement and appreciation when it’s necessary. To understand this better, do watch our online course videos, especially the ones on Building Self Esteem.
Ensure that you appreciate your child enough. How will you know if you are doing that? Look for self esteem issues in your kids. Are you bringing up happy, confident, curious kids? If not, I recommend you go the online parenting program videos on Appreciation and all you need to know about Building Self Esteem right away!
