One weekend afternoon, I was reading on the couch while my 8-year-old had flopped on her belly on the living room rug, head bent over a notebook and a pencil in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out of nowhere, she picked up her notebook and threw it across the floor. “Ugh!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked up, surprised. “Hey,” I said. “What’s wrong?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She let her head drop to the rug, her voice muffled. “I’m trying to write this stupid<\/em> story, and I can’t get it to come out like I see it in my head.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my first few years as a parent, that’s the point at which I would have unleashed a barrage<\/strong> of words of encouragement for my child, thinking I was helping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can do it.<\/em> But after experiencing several moments like that, I realized my attempts at boosting my kids back up weren’t actually helping them overcome discouragement. In fact, my encouraging words sometimes seemed to intensify<\/strong> my kids’ negative feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then years later during my training as a Certified Parent Educator, it finally made sense. Because I learned why<\/em> words of encouragement for kids aren’t the best solution for moments when your child is feeling discouraged or frustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bonus:<\/strong> As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get a free cheat sheet<\/a> of the 125 most encouraging words for kids, plus a quick reference of the research-backed M-A-P technique for motivating and inspiring your child.<\/p>\n\n\n
I believe in you.<\/em>
Don’t give up!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n