Midweek smile...

Kia ora,

We have been writing about YOU Mums & Nanna...

Here's a few sentences I had to share =) made me smile!

I know my mum is smart because I asked her how to spelll Godzilla and she told me.

My mum is special to me because if I wasn't born my mum wouldn't love me. 
I know my mum loves me because I am her lovely daughter and I wouldn't love her if I wasn't born. 

I know my mum is very smart because she went to school and listened to her teacher. (Well done Sally!). And well done to Frankie - My mum is very smart because she always listened so that is how she is very smart. 

My mum is good at many things ... 1 thing she's BEST at is putting on pretty make up. 

And Sally again....My mum is best at make up.

My mum is special because she has a TRUE LOVE!

I know my mum is very smart because she does not need a cook book to serve up dinner ;) (Well done Penny!).

My mum is special to me because she has a BIG heart. 

I was reading a good article about raising happy & smarter children...I thought I'd share this paragraph as I think it's important (especially in the classroom and of course for home):

4.  Praise your children for their effort, not their intelligence.

When you praise a child’s efforts you are bringing attention to something they can easily control — the amount of effort they put in.  This is immensely important because it teaches them to persist, and that personal growth through hard work is possible.  They come to see themselves as “in control” of their success in life.

Emphasising God-given intelligence takes progress out of your child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.  In turn, your child may begin to think that innate intelligence is always going to be a missing ingredient for them, and disregard the importance of their effort to learn and grow.

With that said, a word to the wise: Don’t over-praise your children for no reason.  Make sure your gestures of praise are warranted.  Because if every single move your child makes is based only on rewards like constant praise, when the praise stops, the effort stops too.  And that’s not good because it means they won’t be able to perform well when you’re not around.

The best thing to do?  Again, praise purposefully when it’s truly warranted.  And when your child gets stuck, give them a chance to learn that frustrating issues can be worked through.