Simple Ways To Encourage Children

When you’re used to recognizing children with traditional praises, using encouraging phrases can be a little awkward. Since saying ‘good job’ is a favorite praise among parents and caregivers, here is a list of alternative phrases you can use instead of saying ‘good job.’

Instead of saying ‘good job’ when children do well on tests/exams, you can say:

1. You worked really hard to understand the material. Your hard work and effort paid off.
2. Look at that! You spent a lot of time studying and your test score shows it.
3. Wow! You got ‘X’ questions out of ‘X’ correctly. How did you do that?
4. Your grade improved compared to your last test score. What strategies did you use this time?
5. Wow! You answered all the questions correctly. How does that make you feel?

Instead of saying ‘good job’ when you child doesn’t give up, you can say:

1. You didn’t give up. What made you keep going?
2. I can tell you really wanted to ___________. You kept trying different strategies until you found one that worked.
3. Wow! That took a lot of time and effort, and you still never gave up.
4. You did it!
5. You really challenged yourself and got the job done!

Instead of saying ‘good job’ when your children excel at sports:

1. Your practice is paying off. You’re getting better at _______ (name something specific i.e. dribbling, passing, hitting the ball, etc.)
2. You scored and helped your team win
3. Your teammates were all cheering for you. How did that make you feel?
4. Congratulations! You did what the coach asked you to do and really helped your team out.
5. You were determined and kept trying until you scored. What did you think when you scored?

Instead of saying ‘good job’ when kids try hard and still come up short, you can say:

1. I see that you really want to get this right. What else can you try?
2. OK, what are we missing? What’s another strategy we can try?
3. Who else might be able to help you solve this problem? Should we talk to__________ (i.e. the teacher, the coach, parent, etc.)
4. You really want to figure this out. Is there another way we can look at this problem?
5. You’re really challenging yourself. Can you think of another way to do this?

Instead of saying ‘good job’ when a child shows off a piece of work, you can say:

1. Look at that! I can tell you put a lot of work in it.
2. Tell me about what you did.
3. Show me more
4. Wow! How did you do that?
5. That looks like it took a lot of effort!

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