Can too Much Praise Harmful to Children???

I have always believed in giving my kids all the praise I can, thinking as I am sure a lot of parents do that it would be good for their self-esteem. Now I am going to have to do a bit of rethinking about this because a recent study suggests that too much praise can actually do some harm and make a child afraid of failure.

As quoted by ABC News report "For the study, researchers divided 128 fifth-graders into groups and gave them a simple IQ test. One group was told it did really well and must be very smart. The other group was told it did really well and must have worked hard. One group was praised for intelligence, the other for effort.

Asked if they wanted to take a slightly harder test, the kids praised for their intelligence were reluctant. Of those praised for their effort, however, 90 percent were eager for a more challenging task. And on a final test the effort group performed significantly better than the group praised for its intelligence.

Many of the kids who had been labeled "smart" performed worst of all. The "hard workers" got the message that they could improve their scores by trying harder, but the "smart" kids believed they should do well without any effort. "

So the bottom line is that praising a child did not give them more confidence or make them perform any better.

It is actually better to be honest with your kids if they do not perform well. Praise should be more for their effort, their concentration and their strategies.

I don't know about you but for me this is easier said then done!!!!

Happy Parenting

Monicka