How To Praise Children With Results

How To Praise Children With Results

By:


Studies have always shown that the way in which parents praise their children is of paramount importance.

Author of The A to Z Guide to Raising Happy and Confident Kids and family therapist, Jenn Berman PhD, says "We are becoming praise junkies as parents".

"Though well-intentioned, putting kids on a pedestal at an early age can actually hinder their growth", says founder of Child Development Associates, Paul Donahue.

On the other hand, not praising children enough can be just as harmful as too much praise. Experts agree that the quality and type of praise is more vital than the quantity.

The latest researchers have found that excellence does not come so much from talent and genetic inheritance, but rather from practice. The studies revealed that when a student appears to possess a particular gift, it was mainly because they had received extra tuition from their parents at home.

Experts now know that while some children begin with an advantage, this is not actually relevant. It has been confirmed that with practice even the anatomy of the brain can be altered.

The area of the brain which governs finger movement is substantially larger than for the rest of us, was revealed when pianists were studied. However that area of the brain did not start out like that, it grew with practice.

The question of talent versus effort, affects how the child feels, thinks, and engages with the wider community.

Carol Dweck, a leading psychologist, gave 400 students a basic puzzle. Each of the students were given words of praise afterwards. One half were praised for intelligence: "You must be really smart!" The others were praised for effort: "You must be hard working!"

The students were then given the option to choose whether to take an easy or a hard test.

A full two-thirds of the students, applauded for intelligence, wanted the easy task - they were not prepared to risk losing their "smart" label. However, 90 percent of the group praised for effort selected the hardest test - they wanted to demonstrate just how hard working they were.

Then, the experiment turned full circle, offering the students the opportunity to take a test of equal difficulty to the original test.

The effort-praised group augmented their score by 30 percent. Failure had actually driven them on. The intelligence-praised group showed a 20% drop in performance from their first test, although it was no harder.

Dweck said "These were some of the clearest findings I've seen". "Praising children's intelligence harms motivation and it harms performance."

Three findings were revealed from this study:
1.Any person involved with children should highlight that abilities can be transformed.
2.Children should be praised for effort, never ability nor talent.
3.Children should be trained to meet challenges through learning opportunities rather than seeing them as threats.

Susan Syddall an experienced early childhood teacher has often proven the success of this method of gaining tremendous results. Susan currently home schools her two boys, who learn through fun.


About the Author:
Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys and her husband are CEO's and founders of YouMe Support Foundation, providing high school education grants for children who are without hope. You can help in this really great project by taking a few minutes to check out the Sponsor a Student program at (http://youmesupport.org). It will change the life of some really needy kids in the South Pacific.
Feel free to contact Wendy on admin@youmesupport.org



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent Home-Schooling Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.