Thursday, September 15, 2011

What. the. ?



I'm waiting for my dad to give his siblings his two cents on this, but I know he won't do it on Facebook. I know it works differently with every child, but it's always been about positive reinforcement for my parents. As a kid, I was not disallowed to do anything as long as my grades were good. I can watch TV and play the computer (it was a Family Computer then) as long as I got good grades, and that motivated me to always do well because I didn't want to lose those privileges accorded to me on a weekday, which most kids weren't able to enjoy back then.

It was always sort of a deal with them: you do this for me and you get to do what you want. For the first two years in college, I lived with my Aunt whose house was about 40 minutes away from school. It was still a hassle for me to go back and forth, so on my third year, I asked my parents to put me up in a condo unit infront of Ateneo, along with four of my friends. As most parents, their concern was that I might get distracted and find myself in the wrong crowd and what not.  I convinced them by promising that I'll maintain my grades in school and that's what I did (even better).

I'd always get rewarded for doing well (and perhaps that's why there are times when I still look for that kind of appreciation from other people, which I don't get all the time), but not really get punished for not doing well.  All I ever really got were mockery and teasing (Dad: Math? Only C+ in Math? Grabe kung ako yan, B+ na siguro pinakamababa. Ano ba yan, Math lang! / Kuya: Wag niyo na bigyan ng baon na pera, mahina yan sa Math! parang ako! Padalan ng kanin!). Yuck. Ayoko na magbaon ng kanin, Grade 6 nako! And so I strived to prove them wrong (by winging it. It's not like I'm good in Math now). My parents were very liberated when it came to me that they even took me out to the movies on a Wednesday night, last full show, because Titanic opened, even when I had my final exams the next day.

Anyway, my point is, good gawd why call him out for patting himself on the back... ON FACEBOOK? He's not patting himself on the back, he just thinks he deserves a little fun after his no nonsense accomplishment. If he answered yes to the question about Kumon and homework, then he should be allowed to be on the computer in the middle of the week.  And this is a child who was diagnosed with autism in his early years, which was, thank God, corrected eventually.

.....