The power of positive-ness

You know how they say children (people in general) respond better to positive comments than to negative feedback?  I've heard that if you share a positive remark with someone about their personal being that it echos multiple times in their being..........where as the negative ones just rip them apart.

So here goes.

Allyson.  You know today when you took Sam's video game from him and he was screaming in the car and basically hysterical because he was asking you questions and you were COMPLETELY ignoring him until you started spelling, yes SPELLING, your answers back to your four year old brother?????  Good job spelling all of the words correctly.

Emily.  Remember this afternoon when we were at conner prairie and you wanted to play checkers with your sister in that one house in that little village?  And Sam beat you to the chair that was at the table?  And then you basically melted down into a huge puddle in front of God and everybody about absolutely everything for the next 10 minutes (20 million years) until I finally led you to a bench and sat down with you while you finished trying to handle your emotions?  I liked how you finally just melted into my lap and then decided we could continue on with our day.

Sam.  When I handed you your 4376 things off of the kitchen counter and living room floor and asked that you take them and put them away in your room- good job throwing them in the middle of the correct bedroom floor.

Dan.  You know when we are in the car, every single freaking time, and you roll down the windows, despite how you know I absolutely hate that?  And each and every time I try and wait for you to roll it back up, but you never do until I say something in my most absolute polite and joy filled voice asking for your assistance, again, with the situation?  I appreciate how you huff and puff while rolling it back up- really I do.

There.  We'll see if that works.