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OftenBen  ·  3710 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Steps to Raise Your Self-Esteem

The little bit I know of good parenting advice, on the topic of encouragement, is to praise achievement when it is actually achieved, and praise effort when it isn't. Then success is good, but a good, honest effort is also good! Which sounds ideal to me.

Bias warning here, I was a 'gifted' kid and growing up was only ever told 'Oh you're so smart/kind/wise/etc' and I struggle with a lot of mental health issues, I think in large part due to that. You can't build kids up to be the next Messiah, because when they realize they can't save the world, it hurts. A lot. In a lot of different ways.