Natural Consequences

I thought I would talk about the times when we all come across a child who doesn't want to do something or all out refuses. Being a parent I have come across this situation a good few times already and being a teacher i have come across it at least every day!

My favourite term is what i will be talking about which is 'natural consequences'. This simply means what will naturally happen if things keep going the way they are.

To give an example there was a time when I was teaching some time ago,  an incident happened where Child A disrupted Child B's work. Child B got upset and I called Child A back over (since by now they had decided to run from the scene of the crime!) and explained that Child B was upset and "what do you think we should say to make them feel better?"

Child A decided it was a time to lose their voice and all of a sudden become interested in the floor. It was after a while I then said "OK since you want to have some time to think i will wait until you are ready to speak". It was during this time that all the other children were getting into a group and singing songs and playing games which Child A noticed.

I let Child B put away their work and join the group explaining to them that "it's OK, Child A will come over and speak to you when they are ready". So I waited there for a while with Child A who of course wanted to join the group but could see I wasn't about to let them join it without clearing up this situation. 

After reminding them of this fact a few minutes later I could see on their face that they had made the decision, they walked up to Child B and said "sorry" and then turned to look at me. I simply smiled and said "you can join the group now".

This above example is just one of many i have of how simply these situations can be resolved without the need for saying "Now what do you say!?!" or making them feel 'naughty' by placing them on a 'naughty chair' or any other sort of punishment I have seen in my many years of teaching. Some parents i see have even chosen to ignore this type of behaviour that their children do just because "its too much hard work to deal with" or "there is no time". 

Now I know how hard it is for a mum sometimes especially when you're in a rush but I personally feel that the sooner children learn how to be socially and treat their friends with respect, the more they will grow as a caring individual which we need more of in today's world.

I think its sometimes easy to forget that these children will grow up to be adults and how letting these behaviours slip like this can result in adults who don't take responsibility for their own actions e.g. a 'hit and run' car accident (OK so maybe I'm being over the top). 

One way we can make sure this will not happen is to let our children know its OK to make mistakes as long as they take responsibility for them and like I said there are natural consequences for every action.

I could go on forever but I just hope that this entry will give parents & teachers some food for thought about how they can adapt this situation to others they come across.

Please share your thoughts and feedback and have a good weekend.

Happy Learning!