Dr. Jameca CooperForensic Psychology Consultant, Emergence Psychological Services · Board Certified Counseling Psychologist and Forensic Psychology Consultant

The way we praise children shapes how they see themselves #parentingpsychology #genx #parentingtips

7 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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This content was created by Dr. Jameca Cooper. This content was uploaded by Dr. Jameca Cooper. This is a YouTube video titled "The way we praise children shapes how they see themselves #parentingpsychology #genx #parentingtips" (created 2026-03-07) featuring Dr. Jameca Cooper, a counseling psychologist with over 20 years' experience. It’s a short on-camera commentary in which Dr. Cooper explains how different types of parental praise—outcome-focused praise ("good job") versus effort-focused praise ("you worked really hard")—shape children’s brain development, mindset, resilience, and learning. She contrasts Gen X and millennial parenting styles, advocates praising effort to build resilience, and prompts viewers to share their own experiences.

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I'm Dr. Jameca Cooper, a counseling psychologist of over 20 years. Did you know that the way parents praise their children means everything regarding their brain development and their mindset later on in life? As a Generation Xer, the way we grew up was if you did something good, the most you're going to hear is, "Good job." Fast forward now, when you pay attention to millennial parents, what they tell their children is, "Hey, you did a really good job. You worked really hard on that." What's the difference? A good job focuses on the outcome of the work, which could be good grades, et cetera, et cetera. But the "you worked really hard" zeros in on the effort and the resilience and the work that it takes to get that outcome. And as parents, you really want your children to be resilient and to focus more on the growing and the learning as opposed to what the tangible outcome is. At the end. So here's the thing, we were raised the way we were raised as Gen Xers, right? It's not wrong, it's just different, and it's different from what we do now based on science and trends, right? It's all about breaking cycles, which is what we're here to do, hopefully. So save this for your parent friends and comment below. Tell us how you were raised. Which one do you think is right?