Parents & Daughter

While you’re raising your daughter, be sure not to pay them with these are 6 compliments as they can be damaging to their development. You might not even realize they’re not great to say while paying her a compliment.

1: You’re so good!

Placing morals on actions can be detrimental to your daughter’s sense of self. Just because she did a good job at a sporting event doesn’t mean that she was “good.”

Try to use words that will praise an action without using words for a moral. When she dominates a swimming race don’t say, “Good girl!” Say, “You worked so hard!”

2: Don’t say “Wow, you’re great at that” without being authentic

Don’t be fake to make your child feel like a superstar. Think about it, if she sings and sounds horrid, but you told her that her voice sounds magnificent, that’s not going to help her. It’s not going to help when she thinks she’s a great vocalist and goes to school and is embarrassed by her peers.

Find something authentic to compliment her on; tell her she has wonderful dance moves while she sings.

3: The boys are going to love your attitude.

This comment is wrong for so many reasons. The most obvious being that you’re teaching her that she needs male approval.

No girl should ever value themselves because a boy approves them. Teach her that she is the only person who needs to love her sassy attitude.

4: You’re great at soccer … for a girl.

Don’t ever add “for a girl” to the end of a compliment.

Show her that gender doesn’t have limits by avoiding this part of a compliment.

5. You’re adorable when you’re upset.

You probably don’t realize it, but you’re telling her that her outbursts are okay.

Avoid saying this to her and she will grow up learning how to manage her emotions without thinking that it’s okay to have a tantrum because she’s “adorable” or “cute”.

6: You’re so thin!

Being skinny doesn’t mean you’re beautiful; let’s not teach your daughter that.

Avoid talking about her weight; she’s probably already struggling with body image issues.