DD (6) is a lovely bright and thoughtful girl. However, she seems to crave praise to the absolute extreme, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I can build her confidence up, and lessen her dependence on verbal praise.
She constantly does thoughtful things, which is great and lovely, but she does them for the sole reason of getting praised afterwards, which isn't bad in itself, but I worry that people might take advantage when she is older if her dependence on praise doesn't ease.
A more troublesome example would be if I've lost something, she will say that she knows where it is when she actually doesn't, and then she'll say a random place in the hope that it is right. Another example that her teacher has mentioned to me is that she will race ahead with work as the teacher is explaining it, in an effort to be finished first (and claim the praise), but it often results in her not hearing the instructions properly, and doing the activity incorrectly as a result.
I try to build up her confidence by praising the good that she does, but her neediness for positive reinforcement can be exhausting. I would love to build her up in other ways so that she's not so dependent on priase from others.