Episode 49 - Is Praise Helping or Hurting Your Child's Motivation? with Dr Barry Hymer
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Episode 49 - Is Praise Helping or Hurting Your Child's Motivation? with Dr Barry Hymer
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About this listen
We often use praise as a way to boost our children's confidence — but does it always have the effect we hope for? In this episode of Just One Thing for Parents, Dr Bettina Hohnen speaks with Dr Barry Hymer, teacher, academic and author, about why feedback may be a far more powerful parenting tool than praise.
Drawing on decades of research, Barry shares how praise, though well-intentioned, can sometimes chip away at a child's motivation and resilience. He explains the famous Stanford study showing how rewards can dampen children's intrinsic drive, and explores what happens when our words of encouragement shift from genuine feedback to subtle forms of judgement.
We talk about what it really means to nurture a growth mindset, how parents can model resilience when things go wrong, and the small changes that make a big difference — like noticing effort, curiosity and persistence instead of simply saying "well done."
Barry also reflects on his own experiences as a father, and how learning to replace praise with thoughtful feedback helped his children grow in confidence and self-belief.