WHY YSK: A lot of parents and teachers will immediately punish at a child that makes a mistake (be it by yelling at them, telling them to stop, or even calling them stupid) without realizing that it just harms the child, and more than likely, the child will make the mistake again.

However, telling a different child that they did the correct thing in that situation will make the child want to get that same praise, and therefore; the child will fix their mistake without you telling them.

for example: if you wanted to punish a child who didn't put away their toys after using them, say:

"Abby, I really appreciate that you put away your toys today. Thank you very much."

Most children will want to get that compliment, so they will do the same. This worked for a lot of teachers I've told it to, and worked with some of my friends' children.

And most importantly, it worked on me.

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edit 1: I changed the first sentence to exclude "siblings". u/Qwerky4444 said: "This works really well for large groups of children. But if you use this with siblings, it just breeds resentment and can lead to bullying." I fully agree.

edit 2: I just woke up and I’m in disbelief that this post blew up. This was just a thought in my head and I decided to write it.

edit 3: Read the comments. These guys know what they’re talking about (at least some of them) and they know a lot more about raising children than I do :)