[phaet0n]

There is a sort of analogue to this: parents praising their children as beautiful/pretty or brave/strong. Both vacuously reduce the childs ability to reflect genuinely on their strengths and their source of self-worth. Beauty (or the appreciation of) becomes solely reduced to the physical (and external), and courage reduced to dare-devilism/ego-centrism instead of the appreciation of fear and acting to overcome it.

[mkempe]

In a related fashion, it's irritating to observe random strangers who exclaim "you are so cute!" to our daughter, e.g. in stores or coffee shops, but then don't have anything to say when she starts talking about her latest interest in biology or astronomy. They think they're giving a compliment, and they ignore the actual substance of the person in front of them.

I wish they would hear the child, engage in conversation that builds on what they say, not what they look like or how they're dressed. And stop that "you're so cute" thing, as it undermines the development of a healthy sense of self-esteem.