Celebrate

When I do something great,

I like to celebrate.

I say, “Yes!” I say, “Woo!!”

I say, “See what I can do!”

That’s it; pretty much the whole song. But the impact this simple song has on preschool children is amazing. “Celebrate” was written to give children an opportunity to be recognized for individual accomplishments. This recognition helps to instill Mastery Motivation skills in young children. The celebration serves as a marker in the sometimes long process of self realization. How better to help develop a specific and intended action than to celebrate the achievement of that action? If a child is given a chance to do a dance of celebration on a regular basis, the journey doesn’t seem as long or tedious. There is also the opportunity to celebrate friends and their accomplishments. Birthdays are a great time to sing the song. When someone in the classroom or at home has been especially helpful or kind, a celebration is definitely in order. Even just being can be cause for celebration. Let’s celebrate red shirts. Let’s celebrate pigtails! Let’s celebrate everybody, everywhere all together!! This brings me to the point that the children remind me of over and over again – Life itself can be one big celebration. Thus the song becomes a marker of a lifelong, life-filled celebration. Play the song, sing along and make up your own special celebration dance. Nobody does it quite like you. And, you guessed it, that’s definitely cause for celebration. Yes!! Woo!! (dance, dance, turn around, bust a move, yea!)

Contributed by David Kisor

The way that parents and teachers communicate to a child around effort can be critical to their motivation to mastery.  One might believe they are being very supportive when they say, “Look how fast you did that puzzle! You’re so smart.”  However, this pattern is setting the child up for a performance orientation.  When the child encounters a difficult task that requires effort, they may feel that they’re not smart. To promote mastery motivation, instead say, “I really like how hard you worked on that. You should be so proud.”