It is said that motivation is the main reason for doing our daily chores correctly. It is what it drives us to act in order to achieve goals.

In the same way, when children are self-motivated they are stuck at things for a longer period of time. They feel a sense of control over what they are doing and like taking challenges. When they start feeling that they can achieve their goals, they feel good about themselves and in a way, this helps in their mental health and well-being.

Criticism is an extremely crucial thing in building and shaping a child’s future. It is very important for parents to criticize in a manner which will not make a child behave in a negative manner. Children hardly forget things, words or people. They even tend to very sensitive in things or talk going around them. However, it is necessary to keep in mind about the cautiousness of dealing with a child while correcting his mistakes.

What does appreciation do to a child?

Praising children sincerely can develop many positive qualities within them. Here are a few points of the effect of appreciation upon a child:

• Good behavior:

As it was mentioned earlier that appreciation or praise is one of the most important needs of a human being. Children who are transparent and sensitive often crave for the need of appreciation acutely from their parents. If they praised for their good behavior then this will help in giving them the motivation to earn the praise each and every time.

• Building confidence:

For a child, everything is new in this world when it comes to their first time experiences. It is important to motivate or give them the confidence to try new things on their own and this will give them a powerful confidence boost. Later, this confidence will be helpful for them to do their own work and have the eagerness for praise or appreciation.

• Replacement of material rewards:

Nowadays, many parents choose to appreciate or love to their child in various materialistic ways by giving gifts, toys, etc. therefore, a kid who gets too many materialistic things they tend to have the similar approach towards life and relationships. However, a parent who praises their children in words tends to leave a feeling of well being and the kids live a happy life.

• Trust and cooperation:

As a child grows they develop a sense of pride and self-respect. They make new friends and as time passes their friends become more important than the family. However, if a parent will utter some words of appreciation and love to the child then it becomes easy for them to stay close to their kids and they have a balanced life.

What does criticism do to a child?

Criticism can make a child start to believe that something is wrong with them. Here are a few points to know about the effect of criticism upon a child:

• Self-esteem:

A child’s self-esteem is everything to do with the way they communicate with their parents. The development of a healthy self-esteem is very vital in giving success and happiness to a child. They always wait for their parents’ opinion towards themselves but if a child is criticized every time then this might make them believe to be bad later in life and this will lower their self-esteem.

• Self-image:

The term “self-image” is always associated with a child who is worried about their appearance and body image.  If someone has criticized upon their appearance then even later in future they might see themselves and think to be in that same manner and this might hurt their self-image and might stop believing upon them.

• Confidence:

This is another important area for a child to suffer from inappropriate criticism. A child keeps learning about new things or tries experiencing things and wait for an appreciation from their parents. But, if they keep on criticizing their child all the time then it will harm their confidence and they might not be willing to do the work correctly again.

• Love:

If the area of a child is highly critical then it might be difficult for them to give and receive love. They look for love all the time from their parents and I they are criticized for every mistake then it will hurt their feelings and get separated from their parents over the period of time.

Appreciation and criticism go hand in hand

The terms of appreciation and criticism work together in building a better life of a child. When a child does something wrong they must be criticized in such a manner that they realize their mistake and try to correct that in a positive manner. Similarly, appreciation also plays a major role in building a child’s confidence and motivates them to work better each and every time they get praised by their parents. So, it can be seen that if both the term used in a proper manner it will help in shaping a child’s future.