I hope a lot of parents read this blogg. It is needed.

Actually I read it in an attempt to post to your blogg. I attempted the following post on Meredith's blogg several times but it won't take:

I saw you and your husband’s interview yesterday promoting his new book. I was wondering if your husband and son would like to promote a national health care plan. I am trying to get interest in a plan that buys health instead of sickness and will place the financial incentives for health care providers in the right prospective. After all as long as we are buying sickness instead of health, what can we expect but a sick system that will cost more and more? My computer is cheaper and better than the one I bought in 1983 because the financial incentives promote the manufacturing of cheaper and better computers.

hi. my eldest daughter is turning 10 this year and my youngest, 3, both girls. I don't think my eldest had overcomed the fact that she is not the baby anymore. She often becomes jealous of the attention we are giving to her sister. She is oftentimes moody and always asking for attention when she is not a single day neglected. how should i deal with her? thanks. cris-Philippines

I have been using the 123 MAGIC program with my children. The children are 7 years old and 10 years old. I have tailored the program to their personalities. We use tokens for good behavior and take away tokens for severe behavior. My children seem to think a token is given for any little task. We do not work it that way and I think the rewards are used too much for behavior modification. It is used at school for many activities. My children are defiant so we are trying to stick to this system as a way of being consistent. Time outs are a problem and my 7 year old likes to push buttons. I have now started reading the book by Thomas Phelan on "Is your Child Running Your Life". Please provide information for overuse of rewards and how to effectively work on sibling rivalry and defiant children.

I work with the under-motivated, sever emotional students ages 15-19. The present system (just about everywhere) is the token economy and level system.
Unfortunately, we keep plugging away with this sytem because if done well it can reduce behaviors in the present. What we do not see is how we are affecting the internal - and we do not bother researching and measuring our effect on students.
We lack success and we lack foresight. But the behavioral approach has doominated the EBD classrooom for 50 years, and no one cares enough to buckle down and change it. They are the forgotten child.
Where we remember them is with the huge amount of money through taxes we provide for welfare, corrections, mental health, and unemployment...
I am glad this discussion is occurring in child development, now let us bring it to the kids who need it the most - ones developed without any internal motivators.

I work with the under-motivated, sever emotional students ages 15-19. The present system (just about everywhere) is the token economy and level system.
Unfortunately, we keep plugging away with this sytem because if done well it can reduce behaviors in the present. What we do not see is how we are affecting the internal - and we do not bother researching and measuring our effect on students.
We lack success and we lack foresight. But the behavioral approach has doominated the EBD classrooom for 50 years, and no one cares enough to buckle down and change it. They are the forgotten child.
Where we remember them is with the huge amount of money through taxes we provide for welfare, corrections, mental health, and unemployment...
I am glad this discussion is occurring in child development, now let us bring it to the kids who need it the most - ones developed without any internal motivators.

Maria Montessori tried for decades to show parents, teachers, and administrators that children truly desire to learn. Science continues to prove what she discovered in her nearly 6 decades of research; we are hard-wired for learning. Unless there exists a severe developmental issue and oft-times in spite of, everyone of us learns.

Maria Montessori spent her life exploring the innate nature of childhood. She showed us that we learn best through self-discovery. It is those “ah-ha!” moments achieved by the LEARNER that have the most profound and lasting effects. She explained that teachers should take the path of observation and guidance instead of “spoon-feeding” information and expecting long-lasting results. We need only create the environment and then get out of their way.

Unfortunately, our country is a carrot and stick system for just about everything we do. Rarely do parents, teachers or even employers allow those they supposedly lead to fully realize the innate gifts each of us has to give. We institutionalize and thus cripple, then wonder why so few are capable.

If today’s “educators” had their way, they would convince us that we have to hold classes to teach children to roll over, eat, sit up, crawl, walk, and learn to speak. They would probably also have us using a reward system. To be more accurate, those selling us “curriculum” and “assessment tools” would convince teachers of such necessities. Or maybe this is already happening.

I just hope that I live long enough to see **REAL** school reform. If any of you who are reading this are interested in how learning can be both challenging and lasting, and dare I say a beautifully simple, but rewarding experience, find a fully-accredited AMI school in your area. Spend a few days or weeks observing the children there. They will reveal to you that 90% of what we claim to be education in this country is a travesty for both the learner and those who truly wish to teach.

Well.

Im thirteen, and i think this is a load of crap!

seriously, even YOU all like getting rewards for your actions, promtotions in a job, etc.

adults are hypocrites