The other day a friend of mine showed me a few sketches her grand daughter had drawn and even as I was admiring the young girl’s talent for bringing a variety of people to life capturing their expression of joy, surprise and anger, I heard the youngster complaining, ‘grandma, why are you bragging about me?’ And she immediately snatched her sketch book from the elderly lady and ran away. The incident set me thinking and I referred the dictionary to check the exact meaning of the word ‘Brag’ and learnt it meant to talk too proudly about something you own or something you have done. Even so, I thought my friend was justified in being proud of her grand child’s talent and wished to share her joy as it is said ‘joy shared is joy doubled.’
I think the saying applies to everyone of us as it’s human nature to look for recognition and appreciation of our work and we feel motivated to do even better. I was amused when a few relatives of mine strongly stated they didn’t believe in bragging and immediately said ‘why can’t some journalist write about us?’
n.meera raghavendra rao
Just Li'Es 
When you talk about how clever, creative or kind your grandchild is, it is bragging or showing off but when I talk about how unique & precocious my grandchild is, I am only sharing a fact.
I think in the first instance it is not bragging because all the adjectives used are in comparison to either parents or grandparents . Perhaps saying your grandchild is precocious could be sharing a fact .
My point is different. The same phenomenon ( Cleverness or drawing skill) in a child is seen differently depending upon whether the grandchild is yours or mine. Both of us might be sharing a fact about our respective grandchildren. But your statement appears as bragging to me and my statement appears to be factual to me. Similarly my statement appears as bragging to you and your statement appears factual to you. To a dispassionate observer both children may appear not worthy of any praise !
That is where critics come in to make an objective assessment ,whether it is regarding children/books or art.
Well said.