Kids are exactly what you expect them to be. Never mind what you say; its how you treat them. As a youth leader for 20 years, we've had tremendous performance out of our youth group. Why? Because that's the expectation of the leaders and the older kids in the group. The young ones desperately want to live up to that.

So as long as its age appropriate and reachable, give your kids goals to live up to. If that means telling them they're smart, then tell them that.