A critical understanding of human attachment is recognizing the need to be seen
Parents and teachers often praise children with short, quick statements — good job, nice, amazing. While these clichés may allow the adult to check off “positive acknowledgement,” they don’t contribute much to building the child’s self-esteem.
When your toddler is begging you to go outside, your natural response might be, “I can’t take you now; you need to wait a few minutes.” But what if you said this? “You really want to go right now, but you’re waiting so patiently.”
Now your child knows what patience feels like.
How do you respond to your eight-year-old when she clears her plate off the dinner table? Your default setting might be, “Everyone has a job after supper, and that’s yours.” But what if you tried this? “It was really responsible of you to clean up after yourself.”
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