Positive Phrases Kids Want to Hear from Their Parents:

1. I love being your parent
2. You make me smile
3. Your mistakes are fine with me
4. I know you can do it
5. I enjoy listening to your stories
6. I learned something from you today
7. I love watching you play
8. I’m proud of you
9. I love spending time with you
10. I think about you when we’re apart

* These were adapted from Katie Hurley’s book No More Mean Girls.

I wonder – what would transpire in the culture of our families if we began to encourage our kids with these phrases each day? As parents, one of the greatest gifts that we possess is the opportunity to speak encouragement into the hearts and minds of our littles. Never underestimate the power and potential of one encouraging word spoken at the right time. Recently, I was reading an Instagram post from New York Times best-selling author Jon Acuff and he wrote: “A teacher once criticized me to my mom when I was in high school. He said, ‘Jon answers questions before they’ve been asked.’ I decided to take it as a compliment and have been trying to do that with my books ever since.” Now, while that comment from Jon’s teacher may have inspired him to continue his path towards asking great questions, isn’t it amazing that even now, as an accomplished adult, those words have stuck with him? I wonder which words we speak are going to stick with our children… Let’s make sure that when our children think back on our voice in their lives, they always hear words of positivity, affirmation and support.

Feel free to leave a comment and tell us some of the positive words or phrases that you love to speak over your child.