Can you give your child too much attention?

Also watch Praise addiction – real and dangerous for your child and Can You Praise Your Child Too Much?

“Give your child attention!”

This is a piece of advice that every parent constantly gets from everyone.

And of course children need attention. They need to shown that they are valued and important. When we give children our undivided attention – it does wonders for their self-esteem. When we listen to them attentively – we build their confidence.

But could you be giving your child too much attention?

The answer is yes.

As conscientious parents – committed to raising our children’s self-esteem and building our children’s confidence – we often give our children too much attention.

We make them our top priority. We drop whatever we are doing – to give them attention as soon as they demand it.

By doing this we make them happy but we also give them a sense of entitlement. We convey to them that they are the most important people around and that they will always come first. Because we behave the way we do – they begin to think that they will never be required to consider another person’s convenience or comfort over their own. This can set them up for disappointments when they move out of the security of the home and into the outside world.

When a child who has always been giving too much attention goes to pre-school for example – she may be very unhappy.

She may be unhappy because unlike at home where she had the constant attention of two or more adults – there she will have to share her teacher’s attention with the twenty other students in her class. This can be too little attention for her and she will try to attract her teacher’s attention by disrupting the class or by no following instructions. And this will make her very unpopular in class.

Being unpopular with the first new adult she encounters outside her home can be terrible for your child.

Don’t allow that to happen.

Give your child attention when he needs it not when he demands it. Do this and make it easy for your child to adjust to preschool.

Read the article 6 Ways to help your child settle in Pre-school