Overcoming Hardships
Children respond to their various predicaments with a tremendous desire to gain skills and to overcome the deep sense of their own smallness and inadequacy.
Encouragement is Continuous
Encouragement is a continuous process aimed at giving the child a sense of self-respect and a sense of accomplishment. From earliest infancy children need help in finding their place through contribution.
Self-Sufficiency
The first demand made upon any human being is to become self sufficient.
Courage Needed
A bruised knee will mend; a bruised courage may last a lifetime.
Contribution
Children need to have their attention turned from perfection of accomplishment to the satisfaction of contributing.
Strengths
We can only build on strengths, not on weaknesses.
Avoid Rewards
If children see praise as a reward, then lack of it becomes scorn. If they are not praised for everything they do (no matter the importance of the action), children feel as if they have failed. Such children do things in the hope of winning a reward rather than doing them for the satisfaction of personal effort and contribution.
Acceptance As They Are
Parental love is best demonstrated through constant encouragement toward independence. It is made manifest by our faith and confidence in children as they are at each moment.
Family Counselling Services 