The research behind the words
We used published research on warm, responsive parenting to decide what the phrases say and what they avoid. Here is how, and where the research stops.
Review status
These phrases have not yet been reviewed by a clinician. They are inspired by published research and are not medical or psychological advice. If that changes, we'll say so here.
What we did
- Grouped the phrases into five themes that appear in well-studied parenting research: warmth, felt security, emotion acceptance, belonging, and effort and autonomy.
- Read the studies and reviews behind each theme and linked them so you can check our work.
- Cut wording that research suggests can backfire, such as trait praise and inflated praise.
What we did not do
- We did not test these exact phrases with children. No study has.
- We do not claim the app improves sleep, self-esteem, or emotional health.
- Most of the research describes associations across everyday parenting, and the effects are small to moderate.
How we write the phrases
- Short and literal, so a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old can both follow.
- Warmth or acceptance with no performance demand, especially none about falling asleep.
- Praise effort, not traits, and use no superlatives.
- Never promise something a parent might not do.
- Say it only when it's true. The app's hints say when to skip a line.