Praise your children more than you correct them. Praise them for even their smallest achievement. — Ezra Taft Benson

Praise your children more than you correct them. Praise them for even their smallest achievement.

Author: Ezra Taft Benson

Insight: There's a counterintuitive power in noticing what your kids do right instead of jumping on what they get wrong. Most of us grew up with the opposite: a parent who caught every mistake but barely commented when things went well. We internalized the message that good behavior was just the baseline—not worth mentioning—while failures demanded immediate attention. The thing is, kids (and honestly, adults too) don't actually work that way. They move toward what gets noticed and rewarded with attention, not away from it. What makes this idea slightly radical is that praise for small things isn't about participation trophies or false confidence. It's about recognizing that growth happens in increments. Your kid trying hard on math homework for ten minutes without complaining, sharing a toy without being asked, admitting they made a mistake—these genuinely matter. When you call these moments out, you're not just making them feel good in the moment. You're building their internal compass so they start to see themselves as capable, effort-oriented, and worthy. That becomes the identity they live into. The real shift happens when you realize this works because it's building something, not just managing behavior through criticism. Every correction without corresponding recognition creates kids (and later, adults) who are anxious and approval-seeking. Every genuine observation of their effort builds someone who actually knows what they're good at.