Celebrate to Communicate

I came across this jewel of wisdom in the book I am using to teach my son reading, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons:

Although the lessons should be overwhelmingly reinforcing, do not confuse being reinforcing with being soft. You are soft if you "overlook" mistakes or if you let the child get by with a sloppy effort. This behavior is not reinforcing. Furthermore, it is not realistic. The skills that are taught early in the program will be used later—all of them. If they are weak when they are presented in their simplest form, they will most certainly be weak later, when the child is expected to use them in complex tasks.

photo by striatic

Of course your child needs encouragement, a positive attitude, and praise when she is learning a new skill. However, these reinforcing behaviors should always be associated with real, incremental accomplishments in accord with the teacher's program. Calling out from the kitchen, "That sounds amazing!" might seem like a very encouraging thing to do, but if your child is supposed to be learning this week to keep her fingers properly curved with every keystroke, it may actually be counterproductive.

If you want to celebrate your child's progress, make sure you know what your child is supposed to be trying to accomplish, and that you are clearly communicating this goal to her at every opportunity with both prompt reminders and enthusiastic reinforcement.