Do children behave better when they are rewarded or punished? Discuss both views and give your opinion.Give answers for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Rewards can be more effective than punishments when it comes to disciplining pre-adolescent children. A punishment might stop a kid's bad behavior for only a while, but a reward can do more to achieve long-lasting results. For mothers and fathers alike, it is advisable to spare the rod and yet without spoiling the child.
When children behave well, they are often expecting loud praises. On occasions when they do something wrong, they probably do not mind being scolded, if done softly. Because the parent-child relationship is characterized by unconditional love, it is better to bind love with gentleness and not with fear. In a positive sense, a good reward is like a bridge leading to good behavior. On the contrary, a harsh punishment may, more often than not, hurt a child psychologically as well as physically. While it is always necessary for parents to teach a child to distinguish between right and wrong, the choice of a reward usually can work better than that of a punishment, love being the same--far from spoiling.
At a glance, there seems some logic about punishing children in case of breaking normal rules of conduct, but actually there is not. According to this viewpoint, discipline as guidance is a symbol of love, so there is no such thing as being too tough with a child. And that is probably why some parents still insist on strict discipline in the hope that children could thereby distinguish desirable from undesirable behaviors. Such concept is of course understandable; however, these out-of-date parenting techniques are nothing but short-term and desperate survival strategies trying to deal with the here and now. Using punishment to manipulate and control a child anytime might get instant obedience, but not for long. At the end of the day, only a timely reward is the ultimate incentive for a child to behave better.
Rewards rather than punishments would be paying off in child discipline as it is doubtful whether misbehavior and punishment could cancel each other or reinforce each other. In modern society, any thought about the return of the old-fashioned rod to train a child is likely to be regarded as out of place. Ironically, these days some parents are no longer commanders of the family, and this can be seen in the way they obey their children, with apparent pleasure.
