Generation NeXt Parenting

One thing that I love about writing is I get to interview VERY smart people.
A few weeks ago I talked with Dr. Jerry Pipes (author/speaker, etc.) and he
gave me (err ... for the article) great advice.

He said that Christian parents are the worst at coming down hard on their
kids, and not giving them enough praise. We point out our demands and make
sure they stick to it, but we forget to point out what they do right. I'm
bad about this. All day long it's, "Did you do you homework page? Did you
clean your room? Did you vacuum? etc." So I'm TRYING to give more praise.

Does it work?

Right after Dr. Pipes told me that, I hung up the phone from my interview
and I called my daughter, "Leslie, thank you so much for doing such a great
job cleaning the kitchen last night." (Instead of yelling, "Leslie you still
haven't cleaned up from breakfast yet!")

She had a friend over, and 30 minutes later when the friend left, I heard
her cleaning the kitchen ... without being reminded. Then, a little while
later she came upstairs and said, "Mom, I cleaned the kitchen AND I noticed
the living room was a little messy so I picked it up, too."

WOW.

So, I'm been trying to ignore some of the stuff I nitpick about and praise
their good attitudes, obedience, etc. They're not bad kids AT ALL, but
they've been so much better. I mean they are cheerful when they give me
responses. "Sure, mom."

Anyway, I thought I'd just share that. I'm not sure if it would help you at
all, but it sure helped me!