Mirriam-Webster.com defines encourage as follows:
en·cour·aged en·cour·ag·ing
Definition of ENCOURAGE
a : to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope : hearten encouraged to continue by her early success>
b : to attempt to persuade : urge encouraged him to go back to school>
Mirriam-Webster.com defines pressure as follows:
Definition of PRESSURE
a : the burden of physical or mental distressb : the constraint of circumstance : the weight of social or economic imposition
Now, here we see that pressure would involve causing mental distress, whereas to encourage would involve inspiration.
Today Kate had her first session of Running Club. I am PROUD of her for going, and doing her absolute best! That said, there were many parents out there. One in particular kept telling the kids "you can rest, you can stop if you want!" While I'm telling them "Great job! Keep going!" And she looks at me and says "they CAN rest you know.
So politely I explain my theory, that kids have the same amount of energy as us, just much less mass to move around, so it goes a lot further for them. And threw in "besides, it's good for them to run around some!" An energetic dad nearby goes "yah! Let them run around!" So helecopter mom looks at me and goes "It's a no pressure run club remember" in her sweetest voice (not sweet enough to cover up that glare though). So I genuinely reply in my most go-get-'em voice "It's not pressure, it's encouragement" followed by shouting at more children as they pass clapping and telling them they're doing a great job, and keep going.
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