— For Parents

Effective Praise Education

Resources

Podcast: How Effective Praise can change relationships

Suggestions for parents when learning the skill of Effective Praise

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To learn Effective Praise, start with praising the easy or obvious things, then work your way into finding strengths even in the behaviors that challenge you. For example, if you have a child that shares their opinion in defiant and disrespectful ways, there might be a strength in them being able to state their mind. We can work on improving the way they do that, but starting with praising the strength will help you and your child work together.

Give yourself some slack. It’s going to take a while before praise becomes natural. Remember to praise yourself for the change you are making, even if it’s small!

As you begin to praise your child more frequently, you’ll notice that using the skill has a trickle-down effect and your child will begin to use the skill too.

Praise helps in two ways: It increases your child’s desire to continue the behavior, and it helps you notice positive things instead of just the negative.

Download the steps of Effective Praise and hang it somewhere visible for easy reference.

If you’re struggling to learn effective praise, try putting a sticky note in a common area of your home and add a tally mark for each time you do it.