Teach the Teacher

For all of you parents out there concerned about your child's education...

I'm not a parent, but I'm a caregiver. I think that being parents, you're worried about so much and rely on educators, doctors and talk show hosts to tell you how to raise your child. How about telling your child how they will be educated?


What tends to happen, although not always and not to everyone, is that a bright child is given extra attention, positive reinforcement and encouragement than those children struggling is basic routines and skills.

The child that struggles with behaviour is always told "no" and "don't". When the child displays positive behaviour and initiative, the caregiver may disregard it as temporary due to past history of continuous maladaptive behaviour that the child doesn't receive positive reinforcement. The child may then continue with the behaviour that got him attention, whether good or bad.

Children aren't stupid. They hear you speaking to other teachers or parents about how smart they are or how annoying they have been. To a child, hearing that only reinforces that behaviour.

If you are always told you will fail, you will eventually start to believe it. If the only way you received attention was to throw a shoe at your dad's head, you will continue to do so, because when you sat quietly and read a book, no one noticed.