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on their professor.
He had been lecturing on the power of positive reinforcement and they wanted to show him how well they had learned the lesson by getting him to lecture from the side of the room opposite from where he normally stood.
So every time the professor moved in the direction they wanted him to, the class encouraged him by looking attentive, taking notes, and answering his questions.
But when he drifted back to his usual position, they looked disinterested, yawned, and failed to respond.
By the end of the class, he had moved all the way to the other side of the room.
Encouragement is powerful stuff.
When we pay attention and acknowledge our kids' strengths and assets they usually continue to improve in these areas.
But when we ignore them these strengths often diminish.
The BANK method can help you use the power of encouragement to build your child's strengths- whether it is a sports skill, academic skill, or character trait: B...
Baby steps.
Break the skill or trait down into small steps.
A...
Acknowledge.
what your child already does well.
Be sure to point out your child's current strengths on the road from A to Z.
N...
Nudge.
him to take the next step.
Change can be challenging, sometimes even scary.
Be careful though, and don't push too fast or too hard.
Sometimes progress is about taking two steps forward and one step back.
K...
Keep encouraging..
Give a lot of "good jobs" and "attaboys" as he continues to move in the positive direction.
Your encouragement and his success will keep motivation high until the goal is finally reached.
The BANK METHOD In Action Think of a skill or character trait that you want to work with your child to improve.
Use the following chart to help you use the BANK method to accomplish this goal.
This may be something that you choose to discuss with your child, or like the psychology class mentioned in yesterday's blog, you can take a more subtle approach and just use your encouraging attention to bring about results over time.
What skill or trait do you want to encourage? What are some Baby steps to take? 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How can you Nudge your child to take the next step? What will you Acknowledge to your child that she is already doing well? List ways that you can Keep encouraging progress as it occurs:
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