“Encourage The Effort Rather Than Praise The Product”

This is a continuation of the “Rules of Thumb” series from the Child-Parent Relationship Therapy curriculum, which is the core training used in my In-Home Play Therapy program. “Encourage the effort rather than praise the product”. Encouragement is probably the most important tool in your parenting toolbox even though you probably don’t use it! In this episode I talk about the difference between praise vs. encouragement, the difference between outcome vs effort, and internal vs. external motivation. Learning to encourage instead of praise is instrumental in raising self-motivated, and self-empowered children that have high self-esteem.