Choose Words that Build your Children's Self Esteem

How we speak to children and how we do not speak to children can be seen as one of the keys to nurturing a healthy, happy child. Children do not always require an answer or a comment to everything that they say or do. It is up to us as parents and educators to know when to adopt which of these actions when dealing with children.

Children need to know that they are loved even when they do something wrong and helping them find this balance is a delicate dance for us adults. When observing that a child is doing something antisocial or inappropriate, it is best to “condemn the deed and not the doer" – focus on the action and not the child.

The author makes other excellent points about the phrases we use to coerce or instruct children into certain behaviours.  Read the full Healthy Kids Company article here.