In this article, I’ll try to capture the essence of some of what goes on in a child’s mind when the child has a sibling. This attempt is not intended for children; when one is in the midst of sibling issues, one is often unable to see the issues clearly. Explanations adults give feel as…
We don’t want children to put themselves down. We want them to feel good about themselves, and what they create, and when they put themselves down, they make us think their self-esteem is not so hot. Parents, teachers, and other adults are often at a loss when they hear children say how terrible they are…
“Ecology” was not even one of the words we had to memorize when we were memorizing ologies in junior high. We memorized “cytology,” “hematology,” “psychology,” and more, but I don’t think we even heard of “ecology.” The word existed, but I guess it wasn’t considered important enough for us to memorize it. Then, around 1970,…
The vehicles shown on the TV commercial are zooming through galaxies at speeds that would make light seem to be obstructing traffic. And young space cadets want these vehicles. So they ask, beg, nag, whine, save up allowance, or whatever they have to do to get the coveted items. Somehow, they just have to own…
Piaget worked hard to learn about children’s learning, and though I try to avoid worshipping people, Piaget is high up there on my list. But today I found myself taking another look at a dichotomy he’d analyzed. I’d read The Origin of Intelligence in Children, and Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood. I’d considered Piaget’s…
I hereby do resolve, on this, the last day of 1995, that I’m going to do my best to work on decreasing the number of resolutions I make, and focus my energy on evolving. Deciding to think differently and/or behave differently, for many people, is an effective way to really make changes. For me, it…
In school, thinking is usually treated as a method for solving problems, or as a means toward some other end. It’s less often considered a goal in itself. I don’t know why, but let me think about it. I’m sure I’ll come up with a reason. Maybe even more than one. Being retired, I have…
Some children, for various reasons, like to be done with their work. It could be that there is some carrot at the end of the stick – that whatever the child is going to do after the work is done is so attractive that finishing is a high priority. Unless the teacher or parent has…
It’s hard for a teacher to have a policy about accepting gifts from parents and children. On the one hand, teachers don’t want gifts to do some of the negative things gifts can do. They don’t want anyone to think they’re for sale – that good grades and preferential treatment go to the highest bidder….
In strictly behavioristic language, a punishment is an event that decreases the frequency of a behavior, and a reward is an event that increases the frequency. I’m not a strict behaviorist – far from it – but I do like the simplicity and practicality of those definitions. They explain a lot about why certain things…