Part two of encouragement or praise.

As a result of my professional goal (blog-Encouragement or Praise) I was asked to describe internal control for young children. One of the goals of early care is internal control. My intentions were good however my answer needed refining!
I found that three words, self-regulation, self-control and internal control are used interchangeably to describe the process of learning expected social behavior. Should we praise or encourage to get the desired results? We want all children to learn the process of internal control. How do we help young children achieve this?

The simplest way to answer that is by the environment that we set up. My colleague made a wonderful point about each individual child’s unique set of circumstances and temperament. Children need flexible adults to help acquire the skills of self-regulation.

The point is environment matters. As early childhood educators we must learn which types of phrases encourage and acknowledge. We alternately need to know which phrases are external empty praise remarks.

When we praise it needs to be specific and not far reaching or generic please refer to the list below.  Doc1 for a bigger view.

•Phrases to avoid since they impose                                                         •  Phrases to consider that help

outside “authority”, external control or                                                 children develop their own worth and

simply your opinion. It is best to allow                                                  not the worth you impose, which

the child to value his/her own effort,                                                     might seem impossible to measure

work or outcome.                                                                                         up to.

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