Praise your child's effort and strategy, not his intelligence or talent — Carol Dweck's classic.

Replace "you're not good at reading" with sentences linking difficulty to a temporary stage, not a fixed identity.

When he opens sensitive topic, say "tell me more" vs reply.

Log every task you do for a full week, then tag: delegable / non-delegable.

Task 20% bigger than employee's current ability. Scares 30%, fails 30%, succeeds 40%. Difficult balance.

In few-shot, deliberate variety (positive/negative/edge case) matters more than count.