20 Things to Say to Encourage Your Children
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Week before last I wrote a list of 20 things to say to encourage my husband. 7 Ways to Praise Your Husband for 7 Days and 7 Ways to Praise Your Children for 7 Days have been two well-loved articles here on the blog. The power of praise and encouragement is monumental. I believe many women really want to praise our husbands or children, but we need a purposeful, practical plan to follow through.
Even today, I struggled with remembering to praise my children more than I correct them. So my personal exercise tonight was to write out this list of 20 things to say to encourage your children. Maybe you’ll want to write out your own. But if not, you are more than welcome to print this list out and post it to your fridge as a reminder that children need to be praised.Be sure to check out the links above for more information on the importance of encouraging your children. For now, I’m following through on my parenting exercise.
1. Great job! Thank you for doing that.
2. Way to go. I’m proud of you!
3. That was so kind of you!
4. Fantastic- thanks for obeying the first time.
5. Wow- you really rocked it!
6. You know what? You are a great kid!
7. I appreciate what you did.
8. I’m praying for you.
9. Look at what you’ve accomplished!
10. What a great decision you made!
11. Thanks for doing that before I could even ask.
12. I’d love to hear about it.
13. You figured it out- that’s awesome!
14. One step at a time- you’re doing it!
15. Fabulous job- you were really listening.
16. I know that was a new thing for you- excellent try!
17. I love your creativity!
18. Thank you for sharing.
19. Keep going- you can do it!
20. I love you.
And there you have it! Do you have a word treasure you’ve found that works wonders with your child? I’d love it if you’d share it with us!
ADDENDUM: FREE Printable list HERE.
See you tomorrow!
Rachel
Great! Love these, thanks for posting. One thing a mother told me years ago that I appreciated was telling my children every single day that I love to be their Mommy. My son (5) glows every time I say it to him. Our words are very powerful to our kids. Blessings!
Hi Rachel,
Thank you for the list, you are right, I do want to encourage, but sometime my mind goes blank.
I have a few encouraging statements, some are specific to children who have been adopted because they, if they have had trauma, loss and struggle with acceptance need to hear these statements of belonging.
I like to spend time with you/I like to snuggle with you.
I love you because you are (fill in the child’s name)
Can I give you a kiss and (we have different kinds of kisses, butterfly, ugga muggas from Mr. Rogers, neck nibbles…..)
I am so glad we are a family.
We want to and like to take care of you.
We will always love you no matter what and no matter what you do.
I love the way you are sharing with your brother.
I love how God made you (fill in the child’s name) and I’m glad that only you can be (fill in the child’s name) and nobody else can take your place because only you are (fill in the child’s name)
When they are complying….You are doing (whatever activity) so nice, and so well, thank you for listening.
We have a game where I ask them “You know what, and the child answers “what” and we say that several time, and then I answer one of the phrases from above (or another one I can’t think of now.)
When they are struggling to let me be in control because they have some sort of fear and adopted kids can have some strange ways of coping, I ask them “Do you want a do over, I know you want to do better?” and we work on the desired behavior, or help choose better behavior.
Sorry this list got longer than I intended.
Thank you for your list of encouraging words for our kids.
Blessings,
Joanne