Tips for parenting include ‘look for opportunities to praise your child(ren)’. Give some form of praise every day. I say this because I notice that in most self-help, success-enhancement courses given for adults, a lot of ‘positive affirmations’ are employed to unprogram all or most of the negative self-esteem programming we received as children.

How about we minimize this necessity from the get-go? I know it is not possible nor feasible to say positive and praise messages to your child at all times. The idea is to cut the negative input to less than 25% of what you would normally do. Most is done without thinking. Time to think about it. Remember, from 0 to 5 years old is when the bulk of who the little person will become is formed!

Sit down. Pour yourself a tea and figure out how you’re going to get this done. Parenthood is humanity’s ‘major leagues’! Respect yourself for taking on the role of a lifetime and get your lines right! These are lines/messages that will ring in the sub-conscious of your child for decades to come. Sit down and think about the negative crap you’re trying to get out of YOUR mind and the project will feel easier.

In fact, if you start with those messages, you will get more than a clue as to what NOT to say over and over and over again. Hey! How about you Save Your Breath and catch yourself BEFORE it comes out of your mouth? Kids can be TRYING. Use those trying moments to give yourself a timeout right along with the child… not necessarily in the same room. Also, check those supposed bland statements and attitudes that suck the joy out of your lives.

How often do you look for opportunities to praise them?