When a child is small it can be disingenuous to always praise them for being 'smart' or 'clever' even if it is true. Eventually even if they are top 1% in thei

When a child is small it can be disingenuous to always praise them for being 'smart' or 'clever' even if it is true. Eventually even if they are top 1% in their home town, when they go to a University and surround themselves with other 1% students all of a sudden that feeling of I can get by because I'm smarter than everyone vanishes, even if they are in the top 20% of the new University. It is much more beneficial, at least in my opinion to praise your children for working hard, or for working out a solution rather than simply calling them 'smart or 'clever'. There will always be someone smarter than you (unless you are some genius), and learning to accept this early on and know that by working hard you can also accomplish as much as the genius, although you may need to work harder if it doesn't come as naturally, is very important to instill in youth.