NutureShock

I just read an interesting article forwarded to me by my dad called, "The Inverse Power of Praise". It was interesting to think about whether our innocent and nurturing comments, such as: "you're so smart!" might actually have a negative effect in children down the road.
The article suggested praising attributes that children have control over (i.e. "You work so hard") as an alternative to "you're so smart". In several case studies in a NewYork school system this sort of praise/nuture developed better things in the children than the children who were told they just had an innate gift. Dr. Carol Dweck says, " 'I am smart', the kids’ reasoning goes; 'I don’t need to put out effort'. Expending effort becomes stigmatized—it’s public proof that you can’t cut it on your natural gifts. "