The study (link below) is quite in-depth, but it is important because it looked at the impact of this type of parenting - Positive Parenting - on a child's brain development and a child's brain development will impact their life forever.
Positive verbal praise helps to increase the volume of your child's left posterior insular cortex. This area of the brain helps with understanding the emotions of others, empathy, and even recognizing their own emotions.
Interestingly enough, this area of the brain does not respond the same to an artificial voice as it does to a biological human voice ... so use your own voice, it will also help foster connection.
If a child's left posterior insular cortex is underdeveloped, they may have difficulty with emotional regulation and they are more likely to suffer from depression.
What child may have an underdeveloped left posterior insular cortex? That would be a child who didn't hear positive verbal praise A LOT, but may have instead been blamed for things that weren't their fault or they weren't developmentally able to manage appropriately, not allowed mistakes, been yelled at or teased, expected to be perfect ... these aren't little things and they aren't creating a "strong" child, they are creating a broken adult.
Your child must hear positivity from you, their parent(s), a LOT, like ... nearly everything you say to them ... THAT is how you make a positive difference in your child's brain development.
Positive Parenting and positive parental praise has been associated with children's:
Self Esteem
Language Development
Emotional Health
Physical Health
Social Competence
Motivation
Psychological Development
Cognitive Development
If you are struggling to be more positive with your child, to offer them significantly more praise and positivity than negativity, please seek out the help of a local mental health provider - it's your child's future potentially on the line and they, and you, deserve a healthy, happy future.
This is not medical advice, please see your PCP or medical provider before making any lifestyle, medication, supplement, dietary, etc changes
Comments