Praise and Reward System

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Hi,
What is the best way for someone to do some good work in the world? What it takes for a child to show an instance of good behavior? Obviously, one needs enough internal and external motivation to do a good thing or behave in a pleasing manner. This philosophy applies to children too, whether they are two year old children or thirteen year old teens. However, motivating children for good behavior could be a big challenge. Similarly, motivating them to accomplish a task could be even more difficult.

Many parents have started using a “praise and reward system” to encourage and motivate their children. Right from offering a simple “chocolate bar” for finishing that school task and providing a “weekend ice cream treat” for cleaning up children's study table, parents may go to any lengths to impress and cajole their children. However, is excessive praising and rewarding good for children?

How much is too much? While praising involves providing verbal feedback that is usually positive in nature, rewards are at times, physical and materialistic in nature. Although, limited use of these so called “motivational tools” are productive and recommended, an excessive usage may turn out be negative and counterproductive for children. Parents may need to use them in a judicious manner to avoid negative fallout. Have a great week ahead!

Thought for today:
"If you wait, all that happens is you get older." - Larry McMurtry

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Can Praise Be Harmful to Children?
It seems like it is common wisdom to praise our kids for things like their athletic skills, musical ability, intelligence, creativity, talent, and so on. We want them to internalize all of our praise and have high self-esteem, right? Interestingly, the research does not bear this out. Praising kids for things that are not directly under their control, like intelligence, can backfire. Click to learn more!

Rewards Carry Risks
Research shows that punishment and rewards are not really opposites, but two sides of the same coin. Both are trying to manipulate a child's behaviour.

Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes
By Alfie Kohn

The basic strategy we use for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you'll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in much the same way we train the family pet. Drawing on a wealth of psychological research, Alfie Kohn points the way to a more successful strategy based on working with people instead of doing things to them.

"Do rewards motivate people?" asks Kohn. "Yes. They motivate people to get rewards." Seasoned with humor and familiar examples, Punished By Rewards presents an argument unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.

Discipline without Stress® Punishments or Rewards: How Teachers and Parents Promote Responsibility & Learning
By Dr. Marvin Marshall

This book offers a revolutionary approach to raise responsibility and promote learning that can be used in any school, home, or business setting. The book shows how internal motivation is more effective in changing behavior than any external approach. This fascinating, insightful book breathes a sound philosophy and way of thinking that empowers.

This Second Edition Revised is an update of the proactive, totally noncoercive (but not permissive) approach. The teaching model is used around the world with amazing success. This system is different from current approaches that use external manipulations of rewards for appropriate behavior and coercive threats and imposed punishments. Discipline Without Stress (DWS) is life changing in both your personal and professional life.

Test kids' grit, not just their IQ
Washingtonpost Sep 28, 2013

Think smarts are all you need to succeed in school? Think again, says Angela Duckworth, a research psychologist and one of the recent MacArthur Foundation fellows. In her research, Duckworth examines two traits that predict success: grit, the tendency to sustain interest and effort in pursuing long-term goals, and self control, the regulation of behavioral, emotional and attentional impulses.

Does a mum-to-be's junk food lower baby's IQ? Poor diet can have direct impact on development of child's brain
MailOnline Sep 16, 2013

Pregnant women who are depressed often turn to junk food for comfort but they could be damaging their children's brain power in later life, warn researchers. A new study found a link between unhealthy eating in pregnancy and depression which can affect a child's IQ scores at the age of eight.

Screen overload puts brain development at risk
Brisbane Times Oct 04, 2013

Too much time in front of screens playing the wrong kind of computer games can delay a child's development or lead to serious damage in adults, new research into the impact of media and technology on the brain has found.

The Key To Learning: Knowing How Learning Works
Time Oct 08, 2013

What's the key to effective learning? One intriguing body of research suggests a rather riddle-like answer: It's not just what you know. It's what you know about what you know.

Caffeine can slow teen brain development
Star Tribune Sep 26, 2013

New research on caffeine and the young brain shows how soda and energy drinks could hinder a child's development. Caffeine is readily available in everything from gum to energy drinks marketed to children and young adults. However, the long-term effects of caffeine, especially on young people, are still largely unknown.

9 Black Child Prodigies Reveal How They Unlocked Their Genius Potential
Atlanta Black Star Oct 03, 2013

By age 7, Mabou Loiseau, who is from a Haitian family, spoke eight different languages – English, French, Creole, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese and Russian. By then she had also learned to play the harp, clarinet, violin, drums, guitar and piano.

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