#13 or 20 Tips…LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO PRAISE THEM. GIVE SOME FORM OF PRAISE EVERY DAY.

Look for opportunities to praise your teen (and your other children) every day. If for no other reason than you need to make up for possible mistakes you have or may have made in the past in your handling of them. One of the biggest issues for kids/teens is fairness… how unfair you or others have been or are being to them. Unfairness registers internally to them as them being somehow unworthy of fairness and less than the royalty they are.

We are not perfect, I think it’s a good idea to off set as much of this imperfection on our parts (as parents) as possible. Being the authority figure is one thing, being someone who is beyond making mistakes is another. There are no such beings/parents. Just a touch of sincere praise helps offset blind oversight on our parts.

Of course, you know the overt benefits of giving your child or anyone else praise. There’s the higher self-esteem they (and you) feel, reinforced confidence in their abilities, more exercise of these abilities and the cooperation it causes when you need it AND least expect it. Heavens! Let’s not forget the cooperation part!

Look every day to give compliments and praise. Perhaps, it will be easier to remember to do this if you give it to yourself first. Can’t give what you don’t have, right? Pause in the morning mirror every day and praise yourself. Thank yourself for the wonderful contribution you make to their lives and your own. There is no more important job than Parent. There is no other person more important to their lives than You. Appreciate what you mean to EACH OTHER.

How good are you at exercising praise?