I think the best way to go about it is to critisize compared to the other things they can acomplish and compared to the kids talents. for example if a kid is good at drawing, you should encourage him and critisize him as compared to how he/she draws normaly. but if they are out of thiere element, depending on their age, tell them to do what they are good at and if appropriat critisize the work fully.
Yea i do a lot of reading about psychology.
you should say how “awesome” it is even if it isnt that good lol… its good for self-esteem and development and all that good stuff. however id only say its wonderful if theyre like 5 or younger
If it sucks, I’ll say it sucks. Regardless of age.
i don’t think we should tell a child that his art or anything sucks. You can either say “okay i’ll lie straight out and tell him its great.” or you can say “i recognise there is a beauty in the picture, that is reflected by the effort and passion that went into the work.” either way its better to be positive if its a kid.
Yeah, its definetely harmful to their self esteem to say their work sucks. And anyway, to the people who are saying its doing them harm to lie, remember, kids grow up and learn things on their own anyway. Like we all know what sucks now, and i bet we can all say we were still in primary school when we started to realise who had talent in art and who didn’t. 
I knew i sucked in the 5th grade, i didn’t need anyone to tell me or rub my frikkin nose in it. 
if your wife is pregnant and putting on weight, and she asks “am i fat?” do you tell her, “yeah, honey youre huge, what the hell happened?”. No, in special situations (kid looking for reassurance in their work, fat wife looking for reassurance about her figure) its okay to spare someones feelings.
Sorry to press the point 
There’s a difference. I’d care about my wife. But some kid I don’t know? No way. Unless it was my child, then constructive criticism.
I’d just say something like, “Oh, that’s really good! Maybe you could try…”
I don’t know, I sort of like kids…
There’s not much difference in the way i compliment children or adults as i don’t do that affectinate talking thing that people often do with kids. When i look at the painting, story etc. i just discuss the bits i like and ask them questions about it, show an interest.
Yes.
Will they take me seriously?
No.
Never have.
I criticised children (constructively and destructively), but did they ever take what I said to heart? Did they ever seek to improve themselves? No. They’re arrogant and self-absorbed and only listen to themselves and their mothers.
If you can’t tell, I absolutely detest children…
You used to be one…
I’ve seen some of your other posts. Are you bitter? 
Do you need a hug?
Nice try, everyone uses that excuse. However, I KNOW I was a pain in the @#$ as a child… so… I’m quite apathetic when I “criticize” kids.
And…
I have a different personality online than in real life.
I wouldn’t directly criticize a child, then again, as a child I was criticized a lot by everyone (especially my little paintings and stuff)…
I usually pretend the child did a great job ("that’s so cool, but) but then I’ll say something like ‘if you did X the whatever would be even better/perfect’). The kid usually then runs off with a smile to make the changes.
If I’ve been irritated by children that day I’d give a less positive response or I’d just ignore. (“try again.”)
When I was younger my parents and related individuals would tell me everything I did was great, even if it wasn’t. Today I’m a bit insecure as to what other people think of my artwork, and I have no real grasp on if a peice I produce is good or not. I might like it, but alot of the time I find myself thinking that all these people complimenting it are just doing so to be nice. So it’s not nessacarily a help to self esteem.
I’m the same.
Yes, I give my siblings constructive crit on their drawings and such and they’ve gotten much better at it because of it. I don’t think you should be like; “OMG, that’s like, the best picture EVER! frames” 
With every stinking drawing they do, how is anyone supposed to know if they actually did anything decent if every picture is “the best ever”? 
If you did that all of the time praise would become meaningless and empty and I think in the long run cause problems. Everything can’t be great. I’m not saying “be mean”, I’m saying give credit where credit is due, if there was an obvious effort, give credit for that. 
My 3-year-old sister came up to me this morning with a scribble drawing and there was obviously no effort put into it, (I know she can do better then that, she can draw faces and animals and such and you can actually tell what the heck they are,) and she said to me, “Tell me this is awesome and pretty!” 
I told her that I’m not going going to act like each one of her drawings is the best thing since sliced bread (my parents do that), when I can tell she didn’t even try and couldn’t even come up with what the scribble was supposed to be. I asked her and she shrugged and said it was “lines and stuff”. LOL Then I asked her if she understood and she said “yes” and then came back 15 minutes later with a drawing of a princess and THAT I praised because I could see that she really tried and she was highly pleased with herself. (I stuck it on the wall, 
) And yes, this girl is actually 3 years old, she’s very smart, (in a “I’m scared that she’ll take over the world and kill us all before she’s 12” 
sort of way, LOL 
) so I don’t think you could do what I did to most kids at that young of an age but ones that are a little older, heck yes!
I wouldn’t be too hard on a kid that was younger than five, but I am pretty good at offering criticism to people above that age in a way that’s not negative.
For example, if somebody showed me a picture that they drew and I knew for a fact that they couldn’t draw worth shit to begin with, then my expectations would probably be low enough to give them a ‘hey, that’s not bad’. However, if somebody that I knew had potential showed me a drawing, and it looked like they had a siezure while they were making it, I would probably first ask what it was then make some funny comment and try to make them laugh. I might weave in something along the lines of “it might look more like ____ if you added _____.”
In the end though, art is subjective, it’s a personal expression. It might look like hell to your eye, but to another person it might hold some kind of value(not necessarily monetary, perhaps sentimental).
Very young children, I’ll definitely lie to if I think the artwork is horrible. Older children, I might lie to them (depending on who they are), but I’ll also probably constructively criticize their work in minute ways.
I think it all depends on age/maturity. I don’t think it’s too great of an idea to criticize young children. That’s why some people grow up being super shy and/or hate talking in front of audiences, etc.
Yeah i also agree
Well, tell them kindly, and most importantly, teach them how it’s done. They don’t know about things, and you should be understanding of that situation and willing to help them.
If you’re going to tell them what they’ve done sucks, then it’s better not to say anything. Learning is the first thing kids need, they should be accepted as they are and gently told and taught what’s right the first time they make a mistake.
It’s not their fault afterall.
I was never criticized as a child… but I was shy and hated to talk in front of audiences anyway… 