Answers from Experts

A: Most people would probably agree that children don’t need to be praised for everything. But your child cannot read your mind. Praise helps your child learn what behaviors you like and expect her to do again. When teaching a new behavior, praise it A LOT at first and then reduce how often you praise the behavior over time. It is helpful to think of praise as a reminder. Preschoolers and toddlers need constant reminders at first about the behaviors you expect but fewer reminders over time. You might praise a behavior once a day, then once a week, and perhaps not at all once the behavior becomes a habit. If your child “forgets” and stops putting her toys away, you can praise that behavior again to encourage her to do it. You should notice that the behavior picks back up after you praise it.

A: Parents often have one of two problems: their child has A LOT of behaviors to praise or they feel like there are NO behaviors to praise. Either way, the goal is to pick out behaviors that you want to see more often and praise them. If your child is doing lots of good things, pick one behavior that you want to see even more and praise it often. If your child is not doing something you can praise, you may need to first teach him the behavior. For example, if you want your child to sit in his chair at dinner, you could put him in the chair and then praise him for sitting. Eventually, you would only praise him when he sits in the chair by himself.

A: If your child has a lot of challenging behaviors or seems to be acting up just to get attention, it may be hard to find behaviors to praise. In times like these, it is often helpful to praise simple behaviors, such as walking beside you at the grocery store or playing quietly by themselves.

Another way to find behaviors to praise is to think about the opposite of the challenging behavior. To do this, make a list of your child’s problem behaviors and then think about the opposite of each behavior or what you would like for your child to do instead. Whenever you see your child doing the opposite behavior or when you catch your child being good, praise her. By praising the good behavior, you are letting your child know what you like them to do instead of telling them what NOT to do. For example, your child may have a problem with running in the house. You have told her several times not to run. In other words, you have told your child what not to do. Now, think in opposites. Tell your child what you want her to do. Since walking is the opposite of running, praise your child whenever you see her walking. She will eventually learn that she gets praised for walking and not for running and this positive behavior will occur more often.

When you catch your child being good and doing things you like, praise the behaviors often. When the behavior starts happening more, you can decrease how often you praise.

A: Being a parent is one of the toughest but most important jobs we have. Sometimes it may seem like parenting is all about making sure our children are fed, clean, clothed, and doing the right things. Spending one-on-one time with your child is especially difficult if you do not have support from a spouse, partner, or family or if you have more than one child. Sometimes we have to be creative to make this happen. Maybe you can’t play with your child for 30 minutes each day, but what about 5 or 10 minutes? Doing things like reading together creates opportunities for you and your child to spend time enjoying each other while also strengthening their vocabulary, knowledge, and understanding of their world. If you have multiple children, you can do a “family reading time” where the children practice taking turns.

A: It is sometimes tempting to brush off our children’s problems. This is especially true if we have had a bad day, are busy, or the same problems keep coming up. But children need to know that we are going to listen to them. Active listening shows our child we care about her feelings, understand her needs, and accept how she feels. If we constantly dismiss our child and her problems, she is not going to come to us when she is older and needs to make important choices about things like alcohol, drugs, and sexual behaviors. Active listening in childhood helps build open and positive communication throughout our children’s lives and sets the stage for the important conversations that will happen later in life.

A: You don’t always have to agree with your child’s feelings. When you are actively listening, your role is to reflect or repeat back to your child how you think he is feeling. This lets your child know you care and are interested in hearing about his feelings. If you do not agree with what he is feeling, you can say things like “I see”, “I hear you”, or “Uh-huh.” When we tell our child to stop feeling a certain way or to stop worrying, we are not helping him learn how to deal with his feelings. Sometimes children cry because that is the only way they know to show someone they are unhappy. When you help your child label his feelings, you also provide him with ways to deal with the emotions. If your child’s feelings are hurt, you can acknowledge the sadness and hurt feelings and let him know that sometimes it is helpful to tell the other person they hurt your feelings.