Self-Esteem and Parenting

A lot has been going around about how praising your kids too much can make them narcissistic. I agree, to an extent. What I've learned (through much trial and error) is that instead of praising talent, we should praise:

1. Strategy 
2. Persistence
3. Effort

Furthermore, we need to help our kids learn to esteem God and others more than they esteem themselves (Philippians 2:3-4).

Here are some more thoughts, from an article called When the Obsession with Self-Esteem Creates Unlikeable (and Spiritually Deficient) Kids:

"Our kids should get their sense of worth from our teaching them that they are precious in God’s sight. They should feel loved unconditionally, not desperate to prove to everyone why they should be appreciated. When we allow them to brag, we are solidifying the false notion that we are probably born with that says our worth is based on our performance."

Or, take Jimmy Kimmel's advice:



What do you think? Can we praise kids too much? Or do we just praise kids for the wrong things?