When our kids are babies and learning how to perform the most basic of activities, it’s common for parents to praise them. As they get older, however, we stop praising them for basic things such as eating and going to the bathroom.
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Shouldn’t we also take this same approach when it comes to their daily expectations? After all, it comes to a point where doing an assigned chore is an expectation, and no longer an accolade. Are there benefits to reserving praise for big accomplishments, instead of menial tasks?
Why Praise Should Be Reserved for Accolades
In an honest attempt to encourage our kids, many of us feel the need to praise them every time they do something we’ve told them to do—even the simplest of tasks. The problem is that by doing this, we can diminish the encouragement they receive when they’ve genuinely accomplished something beyond the call. In Luke 17: 9, Jesus made a similar point when He urged His disciples not to expect accolades for simply doing what’s expected. He says our attitude should be that “We are unworthy servants; we’ve only done our duty.” Building this humble attitude into our kids breeds a sense of responsibility, and helps squelch the sense of entitlement that seems to permeate our society today.
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