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CallaFirestormBW -> RE: the role of punishment (6/24/2009 10:54:27 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: daddysprop247 to Leadership527, and any others who do not do the punishment thing....how are such issues handled?..i.e. mistakes, general slip-ups, poor attitude or behavior, etc.? As I've mentioned other times, I use intense "re-disciplining" in such cases. Discipline is a method of -teaching-, where intense concentration, repetition, and mind-body activities serve to remove inappropriate patterns of behavior and reinforce appropriate patterns. I have to admit that, for many people, discipline is not such a far cry from punishment, but the -purpose- is different, in my mind. Punishing is exacting retribution. Disciplining is re-educating. Also, punishing tends to be a short-term response... once it's over, the issue is settled. Disciplining, on the other hand, tends to be a -process-. It requires careful observation and often, ongoing course adjustments to keep the individual on the right track. As such, it seems to me that it is a lot more demanding on both our parts, and certainly requires more attention on my part than just beating a bottom and going on my way or restricting hir to bread and water for a day or so. On the other hand, disciplining usually teaches -skillsets-, which can then be transferred, intact, into other areas where they might be useful. For example, a discipline for a project left uncompleted may include disciplines in time management, attention to detail, and adaptation to project roadblocks. These will help with the -current- problem -and-, once learned, can be applied in any number of similar situations as a -set- or individually. Poor attitude, is another kettle of fish, entirely. Sometimes, a poor attitude is situational... depression after a personal crisis, struggling with something and having it affect self-esteem, or having trouble dealing with changes in environment or social circle can often bring about a -temporary- poor attitude. These are pretty easy to resolve by having the person talk with myself or another of the house arbitrators. Usually, we can figure out a way to support the person through whatever the struggle is that is going on, until xhe can get hir feet back under hir. However, some poor attitude is just that... a bad attitude and not wanting to do anything to correct it. Often, I find that these develop because someone wasn't honest, either with us or with hirself, or both, about what hir expectations were about being part of the House. Then, when xhe's been around a while and xhe hasn't managed to rearrange things to suit what xhe -really- expected, xhe starts to get cranky. Attitude issues develop, and, because xhe's not getting whatever it is that truly fulfills hir, there is very little motivation to correct the attitude problems. I don't spend a lot of time on these folks, to be honest. If someone doesn't want to be where they are, it's been my experience that they'll continue to exhibit poor attitude, and will fail to adjust to disciplines intended to improve compliance. If there is an attitude problem that doesn't respond to my intervention and requests for the reason behind the bad behavior, or if I find out, through exploration, that the problem comes from unrequited expectations that, frankly, will never be fulfilled in our household, I'm afraid that I basically end the relationship. It is apparent, to me, that this person with a bad attitude either is never going to be able to find fulfillment with me, or has no interest in really yielding authority to me. In either case, it really isn't 'fixable' -- it's just the result of a poor match, and the best thing one can do is send that person back out to try again. Dame Calla
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