Cartoonology Devotional 05-12-09

Cartoonology. There is great theology in cartoons and comics.

I talked about positive reinforcement in a previous article as a tool in rearing our children. There is a flip side to that called negative reinforcement. This means that a child learns proper behavior in order to avoid a negative consequence. Believe it or not, you do not have to spank your children all the time in order to teach and train them. That is called punishment. The purpose of punishment is to weaken an unwanted behavior. Negative reinforcement is strengthening a desired behavior.

If you want your child to clean his or her room once week, you find something that you can take away from the child, if he or she does not conform. That must be something the child really desires such as TV, a computer, a cell phone, a game, an outing with friends, etc. It is important to stick to your guns on this. If you cave in because the child whines, you lose. You must be consistent, too. You cannot allow the child to have what you promised to remove. Not even once.

Proverbs 19:18 (NKJV)
18 Chasten your son while there is hope, And do not set your heart on his destruction. 05-12-09

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