5 Ways to Encourage & Celebrate Your Kids

My son is five and has ADHD. It’s not easy to get him on target with behavior, so we have to work really hard. As a former teacher, my philosophy has always been to focus on the positive. We like to build through encouragement, positive reinforcement and confidence boosters. So, whether it’s celebrating the small things or a big event, I use a lot of strategies to encourage and reward the positive. We find it works since he loves being praised and feeling good about himself. It yields better behavior! From kids cards, to filling jars or the gift of time, here are some of the ways we encourage and support our five-year old:

1. Caught in the Act: Catch your child doing good. Think random act of kindness! We use a simple jar and soft pom poms, that you can find at any craft store.

If we catch our son, C, doing good – random act of kindness, being extra polite, helping someone, he gets pom poms for his jar. When the jar is filled, he can choose to spend special time with mom, dad or another family member. Right now, he’s working towards a 1:1 lunch with mommy at his favorite restaurant.

2. Celebrate Accomplishments or Events : Hallmark Poster Cards are the perfect way to celebrate any event – big or small. It’s a simple way to show big excitement.

These cards are deceiving! It looks like a regular card, but once open your child will discover a poster inside. Talk about element of surprise!

You can check out the video below, of my son, C, opening his card – you can clearly see how amazed he is!

These cards are perfect for more than birthdays. Think personal achievement, overcoming a fear, making progress in a skill, sport or academic area, or anything that is important to you and your child. You can find the poster cards at Walmart in the Hallmark Greeting Card section. We got a few for birthdays and just because cards.

It’s worth it to buy all my cards at once because of the Hallmark Card Rewards Program! You can earn rewards for the Hallmark cards you buy at Walmart – For every 5 cards you buy, you’ll earn a reward. Easy!

Some More Ways To Encourage & Celebrate….

3. Lunchbox Notes: I love lunchbox notes as an easy way to let your kiddo know you are thinking about them. That simple message from home may be what a young child needs in the middle of a day.

4. Lego Play. Really. This is the easiest one. Get down on the floor and play for 20 solid minutes – not interrupted by dinner, cleaning and other parent stuff. Legos, puzzles and board games, provide a great way for you and your child to connect. My son and I have some of our best conversations when we’re playing with legos. Plus, the time you spend with your child makes a big difference.

5. Independence Boosters: Make it fun to achieve goals and follow a routine, especially when they can do it all by themselves. My son has a chart for different routines. We slip them into plastic sheet protectors and use a dry erase or crayon to check off each task. C feels so independent, important and grown-up when he is “in charge” of his routines. There’s no room for a power struggle when they feel in control!