Affirming kids¶

Mark O'Brien talks about kids needing/wanting affirmation:

ever noticed how little kids (and big ones too!) look to instantly for affirmation when they get something right or give something a go? it seems to me that this instinctive need for affirmation and encouragement is the clue to one of the greatest things we can give our kids... a sense of self-confidence.

In the last meeting of a personal development course for PhDs I heard, from the coach, that for every "Noooo, don't do that" or "NOW PUT YOUR JACKET...", you need to give three compliments/affirmations. For every one of them.

Apparently that's the amount with which you get them feeling good automatically, otherwise they keep remembering that they're no good.

When you think about it, three times as much affirmations... That is much when you don't really want your carpet messed up, the dishes destructed and the christmas three obliterated.

Ok, I admit Rianne is in her NO-period at the moment, learning that she's got a will of her own. In the object of increasing the learning process, probably, children in the NO-period all seem to automatically want the exact opposite of what their parents want :-)

Well, I'm pretty proud of Rianne. She's smart and mightily active. Not afraid of climbing, enjoys driving in the car/tram/train, can help with the dishes, helps Annie making cakes, gets a towel to clean things up herself when she drops something.

And she knows how to increase the sound level on the teleVISION, I'M GOING DOWNSTAIRS. NOW.