GRE Issue 24 The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones.

I partially agree with the statement "The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones". Children should be rewarded when they perform well, however, they should not be ignored for performing sub-optimally.

Utilizing positive reinforcements, such as tangible rewards, can be a good method to teach children. If the parents praise children for actions that are desirable, then the children are more likely to repeat those actions. For example, a child who gets a good grade is likely work excellent on the next assignment if he gets positive feedback. Likewise, the children who are not currently own a satisfactory grade may work harder next time if he receives the positive reinforcement.

Conversely, children should not be ignored for negative actions. If a child is not exhibiting appropriate behavior in the family, then it is the parents’ responsibility to encourage the child to perform optimally. Ignoring something does not make it go away, actions and consequences do. A child who is being disruptive while he does his homework will continue to be disruptive unless parents do something about it. However, the parent's approaches need be appropriate.

Before the parent attempts to modify a child's behavior, the parent needs to try and identify the reason behind the behavior. For instance, child who often stares outside when he does his homework may be initially viewed as having poor behavior. However, the parent may suspect that the child may have problem of attention, and request the child be tested. If the child truly has an attention problem, then the parent must turn to a related service to alter the environment of the study room in order to cater the needs of the child. For instance, the parent can change the position of the desk for child doing his homework. If the child becomes more attentive after the change then the parent was able to assist the child without scorning them or ignoring them.

On the other hand, if the child is tested, and have some problems with his attention, which may produce negative behavior. In such a case, the parent still should not ignore the child, because the negative actions may hinder other problems related to the attention problem or more severe problems, maybe some healthy problem. Thus the child needs to be taken good care of other than ignoring.

The parent should not ignore the students who are misbehaving, but that does not mean that the parent just needs to punish. It is better to address the child privately and make sure the child is aware of the negative actions. Once the child is aware, then the parent should once again try to determine the reason why the child is behaving in a negative manner. Perhaps the child is disruptive by the noisy outside or really has something wrong with the healthy. Whatever the reason behind the behaviors, the key factor is that the parent should try and identify it, while simply punishing or ignoring the child would not solve the problem.