Is the term I use for
a disciplinary method that was espoused in the eighteenth century by
French philosopher Jean Rousseau? He said, "Do
the opposite of what is usually done and you will almost always be
correct." I call this method shock therapy because it is
shocking when one dose the unexpected. (NOTE: what I'm talking about has
nothing to do with the electrical shock sometimes used o psychotic patients!)
Disciplinary shock therapy can be highly
effective in solving problems and preventing conflict, because it gets the
child'd attention. but unlike other disciplinary methods, it is effective only
when used very infrequently.
The most common use of shock Therapy is in
its more negative forms. For example, parents often stop temper tantrums bu
using negative shocks, such as a spanking, a cold shower, or walking away from
the misbehavior child. Why do so many different techniques seem to work? I'm
convinced that it is not the techniques itself, but the fact that the parents'
reaction shocked the child into the realization that the situation was serious.
Their behavior was completely unexpected. Indeed, it was the very opposite of
what the child expected.
The fact that these techniques are not the
parents' customary way of responding is what makes so effective. But the
problem is, the more often they are used, the less effective they become.
For example, although you might
effectively give a cold shower to a child once, it would soon cease to be
effective if it were used for every inappropriate act. Cold showering (or
tossing cold water on the head of screaming child) and spanking are example of
more negative types of shock therapy, and even though hay may prevent conflict
in the future, that does not mean that they are the best techniques to use if
your final goals is to rear a child with the healthy sense of self worth. The
end ( whether a method is effective in producing behavior changes) should
never justify the means if a child's feeling of self worth are damaged in
the process.
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