Take a look at this beautiful guest post at Chocolate on my Cranium: Stubborn or Determined? Defining Your Child's Attributes.
I made a list of descriptive attributes for each of my children and, for negative-sounding adjectives, came up with synonyms that had positive connotations. One side of my list now had the negative connotation and the other side had the positive connotation. Some of the adjectives I habitually use to describe my children were already positive, so I just repeated them.
Here is the positive side of the list for Xander:
absorbed
smart
understanding
uncompromising
determined
judicious
active
imaginative
engrossed
unyielding
affectionate
friendly
ambitious
Here is the positive side of the list for Nick:
persistent
unyielding
determined
engaged
bold
habitual
expressive
original
responsive
powerful
artistic
epicurean
This was a powerful exercise and I recommend it to any parent.
What a great exercise! I can actually remember thinking to myself when my boys were small and driving me insane with their relentless requests for something about how their persistence and determination would be great attributes when they were older. I may have to try this one for my tween especially...do tell what's the positive side of eye-rolling? Acknowledgement of others? LOL ;) I really do think I will make some time to do this one though.
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