That yard sign might be hurting your kid.
You've seen them. Graduating pre-school. Making the travel team. Going off to college. Parents put them out front like trophies, and other parents follow because they don't want to be the only house on the block without one.
Nobody's doing it to be a bad parent. They're excited. That's fine.
But Carol Dweck's research on praise shows something uncomfortable: kids who get praised for outcomes (the grade, the team, the diploma) fall further behind over time. Not because they're less capable. Because they've been trained to chase the finish line, not the work. Once they cross it, there's nothing left to run toward.
The fix is simple but it goes against every instinct. Don't praise the college acceptance. Praise the four years of work that made it inevitable. Don't praise making the team. Praise the early mornings that got them there.
Kids praised for effort keep going. Kids praised for outcomes stop when the outcome arrives. The sign is celebrating the wrong thing.