Shout Out!

No, this is not the slogan of that well-known stain remover. It's when we give a "shout out" to someone who has done a great job. When I was little, people spoke of giving someone an "atta girl (or boy)." Nowadays, it's called a "shout out." I was thinking particularly this morning of giving our shout outs to children to encourage them.

When I was in high school (granted, not exactly a child), I had an English teacher who wrote at the top of one of my papers: "There are great novels to be added to American literature. Do it!" I've been writing ever since.

If you're sitting at a children's music presentation, play, or sporting event and you see real talent in a child, please make an effort to talk to that child. Encourage the talent you see:

"You have a beautiful singing voice. Keep it up!"

 

"You have a real knack for this! I'm looking forward

to seeing you in your next play."

 

"The way you blocked that shot was fantastic.

I hope you keep practicing."

 



And if you don't get a chance to say anything to this child, see if you can send a card to them. That way, they will have concrete words of encouragement-- words they can look back on and read whenever they want.

I'm sure my high school English teacher probably never knew how his words inspired me, but I'm sure glad he wrote them. And we may never know whether the words we say to encourage a child will impact them or not, but shouldn't we try? Our words may indeed inspire our children to greatness. Let's start today!