Praise can be a sensitive topic for parents. It comes with the pressure of changing expectations, often challenged by our own experiences or “how we were raised”.
Thankfully, a lot of research has been conducted on the topic of praise. Here’s what I’ve found from articles looking at its effect on toddlers right up to adolescents.
1) There are two kinds of praise:
a) Person praise, e.g. “You’re so smart” or “You’re good at math”.
b) Process praise, e.g. “What a clever approach” or “You did a good job at math”.
2) The level of motivation your child gets from praise depends on their age and type of praise you give.
So how do we apply this?
For toddlers and young children, any kind of praise encourages them and motivates them to try harder.
However, as children get older, ’person praise’ dampens their motivation to try as it focuses something they can’t immediately control, such as their intelligence, or a higher IQ.
Instead, be sure to use ‘process praise’ with older children. When they succeed, acknowledge they have applied the right strategy well. When they encounter setbacks, praise their ability to persevere with a different approach.
Check out the links below for further information on this topic: