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Life is guided by principles and systems that help to keep it functional. For instance, there is the principle of sowing seeds in order to reap a harvest and there are systems that help to set this principle in motion once they are activated. One of such is the justice system also called karma.
The same thing applies to human interactions as well. There is a system of reward for giod deeds done and a system for punishment when bad deeds are done. I feel I understand this more as a teacher and educationist. Over the course of my teaching journey, I have met with diverse kinds of children and as such the need to correctly dish out rewards was paramount.
Not all kids are the same even though they might sut together in a class and refer to themselves as peers. Some kids require minimal treatment and they are good while some require harsh treatments before they can be set straight. You cannot use the same system for all the kids or else the message to be conveyed will not be driven home.
Necessity is the mother of invention and in this case, it is highly imperatuve to invent new ways of balancing the justice system so that bias eouod not creep in.
Rewards and encouragement
When someone does what is right or noteworthy, definitely there should be some kind of reward for such a person. When tje kids I educate do something wonderful or a good deed, I have set in place certain parameters for rewarding such a child. They are;
- Praising the child. This is as simple as saying well done.
- Boosting the child's confidence by talking about his or her good act in front of the other pupils.
- Giving motivational talks.
- Giving monetary gifts.
*Giving him or her educational items as gifts. - Granting scholarships to such a child.
Over time, these parameters have worked well so far in boosting the confidence of these kids to keep doing what is right as they understand that just as everything comes with a price, so also everything comes with a reward.
Punishments
For the flip side of the reward system comes the punishment side. I know we don't want to hear that "P" word but this is just the fact. Where there is a reward for a good deed, there is also punishment for a bad or wrong deed. The punishment is not to kill the child or demoralize them but rather to set them straight and make them understand that there are consequences for certain actions.
Each wrong act does not carry with it the same form of punishment. The act is weighed and an effective punishment is meted out to the culprits.
For instance, when children are blatantly disobedient, I could ask them to sit alone in time out or stay a while after schiol hours in detention. For the record, kids hate detention.
There are other forms of punishment like drill exercises of *frog jump", pick pin, kneeling down with hands raised etc. It is only in very very severe commission of wrong acts that we resort to corporal punishment and use of the cane.
There are plenty of times when scolding a child for a wrong done have also worked. It all depends on the situation and the gravity of the offence committed.
Balancing rewards and punishment will help to inculcate the child with a responsibility mentality, where they understand that life has a system to dish out what is due according to one's actions.
Thank you all for reading..shalom.