Post by USCGME2 on Sept 7, 2015 21:27:57 GMT -7
Here is the bit of arm chair philosophy on my third grade mind tonight - Natural and Logical Consequences and how our culture seems to be in such denial of them. Especially as it relates to personal responsibility. When I was a youth counselor, we used nat/log consequences in a sort of behavior mod program to teach little wayward criminals how their choices put into motion what happens to them. Any way, I was thinking about it and wondering why are we not teaching (on the whole) this to our kids today? Or, are we?
Natural Consequnces arise from choices we make that interface with the natural world. The are tied to the inherent nature of the universe and are largely unescapable. That is to say, no matter who you are, the "rules" apply. There is no getting around it. An example might be not wearing your gloves on a cold day. It naturally results in cold hands. Or, falling from a 20 story height to the ground will almost certainly cause death.
Logical consequences are bit more tricky and fluid. They revolve about the logical order of society/culture/institutions etc. For instance, you dont study for a test and do poorly on the exam. Forget to set your alarm, show up late to a job interview and you are not even allowed in. Get drunk and fight a cop and wake up in a jail cell. That kind of thing. There tends to be more of a domino effect with logical cons as they set several dominoes tumbling. The missed interview means a lost check, lights turned off, kids go hungry, guy resorts to criminal behavior or drug use, etc.
Consequences can be positive just as well. Study hard, get an A. Use the right bush techniques, start a fire and keep warm on a cold night.
It appears to me, we as a culture have worked so hard to shield ourselves from ever feeling consequences that any sort of personal learning curve has gone out the window. I can think of only a million examples but, what comes to mind first is the whole 'participation trophy' culture practiced almost everywhere now.
I for one try to let my kids learn the hard way where I can (age appropriate). Of course I dont let them play with the running chainsaw or have them dash out into traffic but, I will often stand by an make them shake off the scraped knee and bumped elbows. A little hurt with no injury garners no sympathy from me. More than once this had made me look like an oger but, I look at the helicopter style parents (always hovering) and their kids are such whinny assed little babies.
My 9 year old daughter and I had a talk just a couple of days after she broke her thumb doing a misplaced back handspring (natural con) (dont worry ya'll its a minor break but still got a wrist length cast). She thought it was going to be a free ticket for a couple weeks. Boy did she miscalculate! "Baby girl." "Yes daddy?" "You know whats going to be hard about this?" "What dad?" "Cleaning out Oreo's (hamster) cage with only one good hand 'cause neither your mother nor I will be doing it for you. You still have that responsibility." Long quiet pause...... Later that day she came up to me with a smile "Daddy, I figured out how to do it. The cage is all done." She got the 'That's My Girl Smile' in return. Oh yeah, she still is doing her gymnastics twice a week too. She is part of the team regardless and with a bumb hand has to do conditioning or floor routine while the other girls do bars. Her splits are getting awesome!
Natural Consequnces arise from choices we make that interface with the natural world. The are tied to the inherent nature of the universe and are largely unescapable. That is to say, no matter who you are, the "rules" apply. There is no getting around it. An example might be not wearing your gloves on a cold day. It naturally results in cold hands. Or, falling from a 20 story height to the ground will almost certainly cause death.
Logical consequences are bit more tricky and fluid. They revolve about the logical order of society/culture/institutions etc. For instance, you dont study for a test and do poorly on the exam. Forget to set your alarm, show up late to a job interview and you are not even allowed in. Get drunk and fight a cop and wake up in a jail cell. That kind of thing. There tends to be more of a domino effect with logical cons as they set several dominoes tumbling. The missed interview means a lost check, lights turned off, kids go hungry, guy resorts to criminal behavior or drug use, etc.
Consequences can be positive just as well. Study hard, get an A. Use the right bush techniques, start a fire and keep warm on a cold night.
It appears to me, we as a culture have worked so hard to shield ourselves from ever feeling consequences that any sort of personal learning curve has gone out the window. I can think of only a million examples but, what comes to mind first is the whole 'participation trophy' culture practiced almost everywhere now.
I for one try to let my kids learn the hard way where I can (age appropriate). Of course I dont let them play with the running chainsaw or have them dash out into traffic but, I will often stand by an make them shake off the scraped knee and bumped elbows. A little hurt with no injury garners no sympathy from me. More than once this had made me look like an oger but, I look at the helicopter style parents (always hovering) and their kids are such whinny assed little babies.
My 9 year old daughter and I had a talk just a couple of days after she broke her thumb doing a misplaced back handspring (natural con) (dont worry ya'll its a minor break but still got a wrist length cast). She thought it was going to be a free ticket for a couple weeks. Boy did she miscalculate! "Baby girl." "Yes daddy?" "You know whats going to be hard about this?" "What dad?" "Cleaning out Oreo's (hamster) cage with only one good hand 'cause neither your mother nor I will be doing it for you. You still have that responsibility." Long quiet pause...... Later that day she came up to me with a smile "Daddy, I figured out how to do it. The cage is all done." She got the 'That's My Girl Smile' in return. Oh yeah, she still is doing her gymnastics twice a week too. She is part of the team regardless and with a bumb hand has to do conditioning or floor routine while the other girls do bars. Her splits are getting awesome!