We do have alpha hops and turtles, and which direction are we moving in. They had improved, so I awarded them their points. These students improved so much. Let's have a one second party. And then I said, let's see if we can keep this up. And they kept it up. They were able to continue. With that and like right at the end of that activity, the student goes, yes, we get another alcoholic, we get another point and. And I can't remember exactly how I said it, but it was something along the lines of. Well, we get Alcoholics for when we improve.
Did we improve or did we just do the same thing we did? And his face was just kind of “huh?” It went through that kind of face and it was an opportunity to open a discussion. And again, because a lot of children go, it would be like I'm going to do it again, to get that exact same thing. Do you see how that can hold us? I'm just going to do this so I can get that. With this one, with that and it kind of keeps children there. It keeps them from thinking more or progressing more and it kind of slows their progress down.
Like, at home, if you think about the child who's learning to get out of their diapers right there, they're going to learn potty training and, you can Skittles if you pee in the toilet or you did this particular chores, you're going to do this, or you did your homework, so I'm going to give you this. When we look at those, it really slows our children down in the long run. It might seem like in the moment, that's really helping them, but it fixes them into kind of a cycle where I did this. So I did this. And so I'm going to keep doing this because I keep wanting this. It doesn't give them to want more or to grow more. It kind of holds them.
I had a student who was super excited that she got her doll because she tried the food and she ended up liking it, so she tried it. Her parents bribed her with a doll and so she tried it and she ended up liking it. And then she was telling me she got two dolls, so she got one already and she's going to get another one, because she tried this food and there is nothing really like it.
Whatever we're doing is good because we're doing the best we can with what we have, but what about us? Can we improve? Is there something we can do a little differently that will help our children even more? We have this discussion and what if you were able to have these discussions with your children as they're old enough to talk and communicate, all the way and how do I talk and communicate with myself in trying to find improvements? But this one was an academic activity and we said, “how can we improve on this?” If we were kind of focused, we were paying attention, we were participating.
It was just an alphabet and letter sounds, so in this case, “Can we do it a little faster? Can I do it with more understanding? Can I do it in a way where I can help someone around?” To feel internally rewarded for thinking about it or saying wow, I did that. That was amazing. And because I feel amazing now doesn't mean this is where I want to stay. But what can I do to continue to have that amazing feeling as I learn and as I grow, and not as I accomplish an end task?
That way we're constantly rewarding our brains and our internal selves rather than I've got to get to an end and when that happens, something to think about people who are struggling with having an internal reward themselves and not external reward might struggle with this idea, perhaps a little more than those who have a little more internal motivation and and so really consider where are you at and is this something that strikes true to you that you feel like I can really see this whether we're doing or we're just open to new ideas.
Sometimes we get that feeling that one can really help me and my children. Remember, children are great by their very nature and we have that privilege and opportunity to raise them.
