My early childhood education background has helped me develop a strong belief in building a child’s confidence. Thankfully, I know how to praise a child with words and use positive compliments.
Today I’d like to share with you 50 ways to praise a child.
BENEFITS TO PRAISING A CHILD
There are so many benefits to praising a child. Complimenting a child is a great way to raise their self-esteem and reinforce good behaviour and actions.
Focusing on their efforts and achievements gives them a positive sense of accomplishment, not negative thoughts or emotions. While our thoughts tend to be more negative, we can turn it around and instead, encourage our child with positive phases.
POSITIVE PARENTING: WORDS TO PRAISE A CHILD
I knew you could do it.
That’s it. Well Done.
Congratulations.
Keep working on it.
Thumbs up.
That turned out wonderful.
That is the best you have done so far.
I love hearing your words.
Now you have it.
Fabulous idea.
One more time and you can do it.
Yeah, you solved the problem.
Fantastic work, well done.
What a super star.
You’re right on track.
I’m really proud of how hard you worked today.
Super duper work.
Great teamwork.
Nothing can stop you now.
Yes.
Fantastic effort.
You finished really quickly! Well done.
You kept trying.
Awesome work.
I like how you think.
Excellent try.
You’re such a creative thinker.
Well done, you did it.
Excellent job saying how you feel.
You handled that so well.
You’re very talented.
Sensational.
Wonderful.
MORE POSITIVE PRAISE EXAMPLES
That’s the correct way to do it.
Good remembering.
You expressed yourself so well.
You know just what to do.
Excellent work.
Great teamwork.
You must have been practising.
You really do keep trying.
I knew you could figure this out.
I know it was hard but you did your best.
You were so calm during that problem.
I’m so proud of you today.
Keep trying, you can do it.
I loved how you worked today.
Brilliant.
You’re amazing.
Good stuff.
What positive praise examples can you add to the list? Do you have a list of ways to praise a child in your parenting toolset? If not, start today!
Try it out for three days and see what a difference it makes. Trust me, it really does work.
About Angela Milnes
Angela Milnes is a Qualified Early Years Teacher who has specialised in Preschool and Kindergarten teaching. She has a wealth of experience teaching young children and is passionate about kids crafts and having fun as a family. Angela has also taught cooking skills and loves to share both family recipes and easy instant pot recipes here on The Inspiration Edit. Follow her on Pinterest!
Bookmarked! A very useful list. I might also read them to myself. Positive self-reinforcement and all that 😉
great idea!
Great post, I love this, praising my children is so important and I just wish some of their teachers did too.
Thanks. It is really important and yes, its something teachers can do too!
oh I love this and I know how very important it is to praise you child they thrive for sure
Thanks. It is an important thing and something I felt I needed to share here on the blog.
I say good job and well done too much, although I do try and back those up with why he’s done something well, or why I’m pleased with him. I think a lot of the time, it just washes over N!
This sounds like a really great idea. When I share why I’m pleased with my child, she always lights up and feels pleased with herself !
These are awesome Angela! I’ve used most of these with my boys and every day I’m telling them how proud I am of them and how great they’re doing in school. Popping over from #bloggerclubuk Facebook group
Thanks Michelle. I’m glad you like these suggestions. 🙂
LOVE this post! Praise is always so much better than negative comments. Pickles face when I praise him is just adorable. Kaz x
It’s the same with Sylvia. When we focus on the good, the not so good reduces too!
I love this! I always try and keep things positive with my little one! there is enough negativity in the world.. sometimes it can be a bit monotonous to keep praising little things but then I remember they aren’t necessarily little to him – thanks for sharing !
Oh I’m glad you like this. I agree positivity is the way to go!
I think this is fantastic and will bookmark it as I look after kids myself thanks x
Oh this can be useful for anyone intereacting with kids! Glad you like it Ana and hope it comes in handy.
We are having issues with one of ours at the moment so are working really hard on positive reinforrcement
It can be tricky but these ideas should hopefully help. 🙂
This list is great! Will practice on using with my husband before little one arrives – LOL!
Ha Ha! I shall try this on my hubby too! Great idea!
I think I could use some of these for the mister ha x
great idea!
Aww it’s amazing the effect a bit of praise can have on a child, always puts huge smiles on there faces xx
it sure is and something I think is very important. it can change the whole atmosphere in the home being positive!
Great! Praise is so important!
It sure is especially when used appropriately and at the right times.
I love this – I think it’s so important to praise children and to give them positive encouragement when they do something well, so I’m trying really hard to make sure I do this with my little boy.
Thanks. They are god ideas and these phrases work and help build up a child rather than pull them down.
What a lovely post. You are so right, positive reinforcement is so important for children. I try to tell my children how brilliant they are as much as I can, and tell them I love them as often as possible.x
oh thanks. It’s a great thing to do and really can help!
I love this post! A good reminder to not be too focused on the behaviors to correct that we leave out the ones to praise.
Thanks. I’m gad you like this and that its useful It is important to focus on good positive behaviour. That worked when I was a school/Kindergarten aged teacher!
A brilliant post. There appears to be a movement towards no praise and instead say things like ‘how do you feel you did and can you improve on that’ I can’t think of anything more stressful than to give a child the responsibility of deciding whether they’ve done well and worse to make them feel what they’ve achieved has not impressed the parent or teacher in any way whatsoever. It’s all about balance and making sure children know when they’ve done well and advising them when they could make more effort so their full potential is achieved. Oh! & as far as suppressing their natural desire to compeat in sports etc from a young age, well that’s another rant for another day.