When interacting with children, parents and teachers consciously dole out considerable amounts of praises. They like to be parents or teachers who are encouraging, supportive and recognise children’s efforts.
After all, teachers today need to be as encouraging and motivating as possible and to shower children with a lot of attention. Stars, smileys, ice-creams and all the emojis of the world are drawn on little children’s fists to make them feel like they did a good job!
But an important question, in this system of showing too much appreciation, is- are we making our children too dependent on appreciation? What happens when they reach an age where they see through false encouragement and realise that they need an honest review of their work?
The too much- too little debate-
How much praise is good for a child? How do you imbibe discipline? How does one tell a child that he / she is wrong? What about the ego?
Just like everything in life needs to be balanced, how do we know when praise becomes too much? These are questions that every educationist and every parent, needs to ask him or herself.
In the era of excessive encouragement and too many pats on the back, what will happen to a child if he or she fails? Will children are able to deal with failure positively or will they break apart?
The necessity of promoting a healthy relationship with feedback-
In today’s times, there are many avenues to showcase one’s talent and work. As the visibility of one’s achievements broaden one receives feedback – both positive and negative from various sources. Some are understanding while others are extremely brutal as we have witnessed in the case of internet trolls.
Leaders are often criticised for their decisions. Artists are condemned for their work. But the ones who outshine are those who take feedback constructively and do not give up.
This is why it is important to have healthy, open and constructive discussions regularly with children about their work, their attitudes, their behaviours and their hobbies. This is how teachers and parents can promote a healthy being.
As teachers and parents who are associated with one of the best schools in Kalyan let us rethink the way we interact with our children and how we can encourage positive thinking in our students so that they outshine and develop into well- rounded, confident personalities.
