18

Heredity

American parents, as a rule, can be put in two extreme classes, those
who render the children insufferably conceited and unbearable by
overestimating their abilities and overpraising their achievements, and
those who render them morbid and self-depreciating by a lack of
wholesome praise.

It is rare indeed, when we find parents wise and sensible enough to
strengthen the best that is in their children by discreet praise, and
at the same time to control the undesirable qualities by judicious and
kind criticism.