New research suggests that children with low self-esteem suffer from parents’ natural willingness to over-praise.

Many parents believe that their children are “perfect” and “fantastically” good at everything, from art to tee ball. But new research suggests that children with low self-esteem don’t need to hear those kinds of affirmations.

According to research published in the journal Psychological Science, exaggerated praise may hinder a child’s growth and willingness to take on new challenges.

Through a series of studies, researchers at Ohio State University and other schools found that “inflated praise”—the kind littered with unnecessary adverbs and adjectives—can often backfire. One example of inflated praise, the researchers said, is telling a child “You’re incredibly good at this,” instead of simply saying “You’re good at this.”

“Parents seemed to think that the children with low self-esteem needed to get extra praise to make them feel better,” study co-author Brad Bushman, a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State, said in a statement. “It’s understandable why adults would do that, but we found in another experiment that this inflated praise can backfire in these children.”

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Children with low self-esteem will often find themselves recipients of praise, as many parents, teachers, and other influential adults feel the need to pile on the encouragement. And adults are twice as likely to give inflated praise to children with the lowest self-esteem.

But that abundant praise may convince children to take on less challenging tasks if they know they can easily complete them and get a dose of positive feedback.