Good Job

We're starting to venture into the land of potty-training. Yes Lily's young, but she's also exhibiting some signs that she's ready. So we're taking advantage of her enthusiasm and dipping a toe in the water. That was a horrible analogy to pick, but since I already typed it I guess I'll leave it in. 

While doing some internet research about potty-training, I came across this article 'Five Reasons to Stop Saying Good Job.' I was intrigued because "Good job" comes out of my mouth ALL the time, without really thinking about it. This article has definitely made me think about it. 

It's so easy, so quick, so mindless. But why am I saying it? Did she really do a 'good job' getting her yogurt into her mouth? Truthfully, no. She smeared it all over her face on the way to her mouth. And yet I just said good job because it EVENTUALLY ended up in the right place. Ridiculous. 

So we're trying to ditch the 'Good job' habit. Turns out it's really hard. It's so natural to offer some sort of encouragement when she does something. But it's also weird when you think about it. Why am I judging her ability to eat yogurt? There is no good or bad eating. You just eat. Instead, we're trying to make non-judgement based statements like "You ate your yogurt" or just "You did it." And we're trying not to just make that a new form of praise, because saying "You did it!" after everything seems to be not that different from "Good job!". We want to actually engage her in what she did and why. 

Just some random thoughts and now some cute pictures. Happy Monday!