Appropriate Punishment Essay, Research Paper

Educational Psychology

9-13-99

Appropriate Punishment

I thought it was very interesting when we discussed punishment and positive

and negative reinforcement in class. I think it is very important to use positive

reinforcement just as much as negative reinforcement. I also found it interesting

that when you punish a child, you should do nine good things to make up for the one

bad punishment.

We discussed spanking in class also. I personally have never been spanked, but

that is only because my father was physically abused by his father, so my dad chooses

to punish his children in other ways. However, I do not agree with the way my parents

chose to punish me. When I was in high school, I went through a time where I chose not

to study. I also decided to experiment some with drinking, which I would soon find out

that a fourteen year old girl had no business doing this! To make a long story short,

my parents found out that I had gone to a party and consumed alcholic beverages and I

was grounded for what seemed like eternity. Now I agree that I deserved to be grounded,

but not as strictly as I was. I was grounded from the television, the telephone, my

friends, and I could’nt even do anything on the weekends. I could not even go to

my grandmother’s house to spend the night. I really feel like my parents were way to

harsh on me. They never hugged me or comforted me when I was about to go insane from

bordem.

I think it is very important for parents and teachers to sit down and discuss

appropriate punishment with their children. This way the child atleast has a little

input into it. I feel like grounding your children for over a month does much more

harm than good.

I plan to really look at the studies that have been done on positive and

negative reinforcement. Hopefully when I have a classroom of my own and my own

children at home, I can use better strategies than those of my parents.