Child Training

I heard recently about a child misbehaving at school badly enough that his mother had to come and get him.  She treated him to a new toy and an evening of fun playing with him.  Hmmm!

I guess I'm old school in that I don't believe in rewarding bad behaviour.  I don't believe in physical punishment, either, but I do think we have to accept the consequences of our bad behaviour starting even in childhood.

The only child I ever had to take out of school because he acted up was my grandson, Matthew.  He wasn't actually bad, just silly and acting out to get a laugh but he had to learn that was unacceptable in class.  So I got to keep him every time he was expelled from school, usually for a day or so.  I didn't give him treats!

My standard punishment was to make him sit at the diningroom table for hours copying out his times table.  This was big punishment for a child who had trouble sitting still for even a short time.  Then I'd get him to do some physical labor like washing down the basement stairs.  No, I didn't give him treats at all and I do believe he learned there are not so nice consequences to bad behaviour.  Today he is adorable!

I just can't imagine any parent treating bad behaviour with fun.  What does that teach the child?  They learn that, if they don't want to behave in school they can just act up and they'll get out and get treats.  I don't believe that's the right goal for the parent.

This is not a bad child.  This is a child with some problems they can't cope with properly because they are just a child.  There is lots of hope to change this poor behaviour around in the future but it will just take longer if the parent doesn't offer more severe consequences and make it a life learning experience.