evening, folks (or folk). i'm writing this primarily to keep from having to write my first paper for my first online uh class. it's supposed to be this comparison/contrast of different learning theories. think i'm going to compare piaget and skinner. very different, one's cognitive, the other's behavioral, but what the hey. i wanted to compare piaget and vygotsky, since it promised to be a fruitful comparison, but the stupid author of the book we're reading from already did a bang-up job of it (thus eliminating it from our list of possible pairings, unless we wanted to get an f for parroting)...
by the way, regarding this online course. let me tell you about all my little misadventures... i'm so disorganized about things! when i registered for this course, it said that the schedule, everything, was TBA (to be announced). so i basically waited and waited for some kind of "announcement." finally, i just happen to log in to the uh website, and i discovered i had an actual mailbox there. and one of the most recent messages asked me why i hadn't visited "webct" to access my course materials??? to make a long story short, i discovered that i was more than a week late in "starting the course." no consequences gradewise yet, because the first assignment is due tomorrow evening. but with the sharp compression of time i have, we'll see what quality work i can produce!!!
actually, the reading's been pretty interesting. the first chapter i read about was primarily the behavioral perspective on learning. i was surprised to discover that, as a parent, i am a practicing behaviorist. i believe in reward and punishment, and i implicitly know the principles: like, if you want to reinforce or discourage behavior, you have to reward/punish IMMEDIATELY. it's like you're trying to make a clear link: this behavior is GOOD, so i'm rewarding you now; this behavior is bad, so i'm punishing you now. children (animals too) don't understand the "why's" of behavior; i.e., you can't expect a child to "understand" that it is inappropriate to scream in a restaurant. you can explain verbally why something is inappropriate, but little children can't/won't understand this. but they do understand punishment/rewards...
and, by the way, i'm not talking corporal punishment, something which my wife and i definitely do not believe in. there are other ways to get through to a child. time outs, for example. if a child is behaving badly in a restaurant, then take him/her to the car with you, separate him/her from the social environment, and just calmly wait while the child has the tantrum. i don't get particularly upset or anything, i just sit and wait. and when/if the child finally settles down, then i explain (even if i don't expect to be understood) why the child was on time out. and then (if it's still possible) i return to the restaurant, and we try things out again...
the first few times, it may feel like an exercise in futility and patience. but in our experience, it works.
sometimes, i think parents fail because they either:
1) make the mistake of thinking that the child is LIKE an adult; i.e., the child is capable of understanding right/wrong, appropriate/inappropriate, etc. and they just need to be "reasoned with," or, failing that, ameliorated or pacified somehow. (let me be clear that i'm talking primarily about toddler age [1.5 years on up] children, not newborns!!! newborns shouldn't be expected to "behave"; they should simply have their needs met). toddlers don't have the capacity (not necessarily, anyway) to be reasoned with.
2) make the mistake of thinking that the child is LIKE an animal; i.e., the child is an unthinking and insensitive "thing" that doesn't have the capacity to learn... abusive parents, in other words... funny how the parental expectations of the child in such scenarios mirror the nature of the abuser.
children deserve RESPECT. they deserve to be talked to as though they are valid and important (they ARE). part of that respect, however, involves teaching them (in as clear a manner as possible) the rules of right and wrong EARLY ON, before they even understand necessarily why the rules are there...
...okay, so i'm getting preachy. to be honest, i think parenting's something you just "ad lib." each situation's different, because each child is different. i have strong ideas about parenting, but i realize that my ideas are only based upon my "work" with my kids... so don't think i'm really being prescriptive or anything... it's just i've been force-feeding myself on these readings, and reflecting on it with regards to my parenting, so what comes out is pressurized, so to speak...
***
so things come in cycles. nowadays, i'm kind of just working through my uh stuff, doing treatments, teaching this tuina class. same s, different season. oh! i got the herb zoo cards, so i'm trying to refresh my knowledge of herbs, and "self-experimenting" with the validity of certain mnemonic strategies in the "absorption" of vast amounts of data... i ordered kiiko volume 2 (plus special supplies), so i'll have that to put into practice... and, after a few seasons of neglect, i'm slowly getting back into the swing of things with taiji/bagua/hsingyi. i used to do ALL of the forms at least once every other day AND do a lot of pile standing on narrow bricks for at least half an hour... hopefully, i can get back into it, AND DO MORE... i really want to get into the heart of taijiquan, applications, push hands, etc. i know someone who may want to practice with me, so... i have vague ideas of really doing the reckoner song (and others) on garage band, maybe even making a sort of "karaoke" cd of my favorite radiohead (and other) songs... i also have "ideas" of getting back into taiko (just on my own), and perhaps as part of that, learning how to play drums "western style" (so i can do faster riffs).
i think that at any given moment, our aspirations suspend us over countless infinities. but i know i can't swallow the sea. i know i can only sip at it, one mouthful at a time. and i know that life is best when i appreciate each drop that the present delivers to me... but at the very least, having a lot of interests keeps me engaged with my life...
reminds me of the whole "empty cup" proverb from zen. yeah, beginner's mind, and all that. honestly, it's what keeps life "interesting." to always know that, no matter how far you go, the journey is so infinitely far that it is as though you were STANDING STILL (i.e. ALWAYS starting fresh).
... so without further ado, i suppose i should start this paper "afresh"... wish me luck.
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