​To improve your communication and ​your ​relationship with your child, we encourage ​you to “catch them being good.” Look for good things they do and praise them. Let them know that you ​notice when they do good things and make a point of consistently praising those positive behaviors. If the only time children hear our voices is when we’re being critical of them or pointing out something they did wrong or failed to do, they will quickly tune us out. Switch it around and strive to notice the good things your child does four times more often than you criticize them for the bad things. Focus on three areas:

• Things they do well that you might take for granted
• Small improvements toward the behaviors you want to see
• Attempts at using new skills

There are all sorts of fun ways you can reward your kids when you catch them being good. Click on our downloadable parenting tool below for some creative ​​ideas.