Week Six Post Two

While reading the chapter I really found the section on Exclusion and Conversation to be interesting. The section explains how the disciplinary technique that is most often used in North America is time-out. Time-out is when a misbehaving child is separated from other people for a specific amount of time to sit quietly without toys. My mother was really fond of this technique. In my younger years anytime I acted up I was thrown into time out and left there until I realized exactly what I did wrong and apologized. It is suggested that the time-out is brief, usually one minute for each year of the child’s age, but my mother let me sit there and stare at the wall with nothing to do but think about what I did wrong. The more time I had to think about it, the more I realized how wrong I was. Another type of psychological control my mother used was induction, in which the parents talk extensively with the offending child, getting the child to understand why his or her behavior was wrong. Anytime I acted up my mother always pulled me aside and talked to me about it. She always wanted me to understand exactly what I did wrong, and why I shouldn’t be doing it. After we discussed my behavior she would give me some type of punishment as a consequence. It is said that conversation helps children internalize standards, but induction takes time and patience. A lot of parents don’t have patience with their children, but I was lucky enough to have a patient mother. I strongly agree that conversation helps children internalize standards. My mother always made sure I knew her standards and worked my hardest to reach them.