Confirmation Of The Praise Paradox

If you are not familiar with the downside of too much praise for your child then stop what you're doing because I'm going to ruin what you used to know.

First read at NYMag: How Not to Talk to Your Kids: The inverse power of praise.

Via TheAtlantic comes confirmation from an extensive study: Be Wary of Calling Kids 'Gifted'

When Reverse Psychology Works

If, as a parent, you have hit a wall in trying to change a child's behavior, there is observational research that indicates showing disinterest in if the child does or does not do what the parent requests can be effective in producing the desired result.

See Slate: Plan B: What to do when all else has failed to change your kid's behavior

...back off almost entirely: to stop asking their child to do the desired behavior and say it's OK not to do it at all, stop offering praise or other rewards for doing it, and mask their attitude of engaged enthusiasm or frustrated rage with an appearance of bland disinterest in whether the child does it or not. What happens next, frequently, is that within a day or two the child starts doing the behavior with no prompting from parents or anyone else. If you try something similar with your own recalcitrant child, within a few days he or she may well be using the toilet, eating green beans, or bathing without dire struggles.

Intelligence Is A Muscle

And it is important to get kids started early (like in a Montessori program)

At the NYT: How to Raise Our I.Q.

Professor Nisbett provides suggestions for transforming your own urchins into geniuses — praise effort more than achievement, teach delayed gratification, limit reprimands and use praise to stimulate curiosity...
Good schooling correlates particularly closely to higher I.Q.’s. One indication of the importance of school is that children’s I.Q.’s drop or stagnate over the summer months when they are on vacation (particularly for kids whose parents don’t inflict books or summer programs on them).

Professor Nisbett strongly advocates intensive early childhood education because of its proven ability to raise I.Q. and improve long-term outcomes.

This story reminded me of what I consider must-reading for all parents at NYMag: How Not to Talk to Your Kids

Imagination And Appetite

MSNBC: Making veggies cool for kids - Study: Children ate twice as many veggies if they were given a funny name

Kids Like Structure

One of the things I admire about the Montessori method is that children learn on their own but within a structure that teaches them to complete one task before starting another.

New research points to the advantages of continuing that structure in the home.

See Slate: Messy House, Messy Minds: The connections among kids, reading, and an orderly home.

Nagging Your Kids About Food: You May Be Able To Affect Quality But Not Quantity

See EconLog: Food and the Family: Weighing the Power of Culinary Nagging

Nature can account for all of the family resembance in the Body Mass Index; nurture doesn't matter at all

How To Motivate The Kids

The 'parenting expert' says NOT to reward kids as a means of motivation. Whatever, all I know is if I have to offer a little chocolate or ice cream desert to my two year old in order for her to eat the semblence of a balanced dinner I am going to do it.

See the NYT: Does Rewarding Children Backfire?

“Talk less, ask more.”