Positive Reinforcement for Teaching Good Behaviour
All good parents and teachers know that it is easier to train someone to do something than to train them not to do something. This is because it is much simpler to encourage and incentivise positive behaviour than it is to discourage unwanted behaviour. Getting desirable behaviour is readily achievable through positive reinforcement. If you…
What’s in a Job Title?
Over the last few years, there has been a trend to give people fancier job titles. The job role will not have changed; only the job title will change. Salespeople have become Sales Executives. Cleaners have become Cleaning Operatives. Receptionists have become Front Desk Executives. Sandwich makers have become Sandwich Artists. The reason is that…
Stress – It’s Our Greatest Danger
Until very recently, it was thought that smoking, alcohol, obesity and poor lifestyle were the main causes for people to develop a heart condition. It turns out that they are merely contributory factors. The main trigger for heart attacks, strokes and death, it seems, is stress. In the last few years, it has been shown…
Children’s Behaviour: Treating them as Grown-ups
From a very early age, right through their development, children have to learn certain behaviours. It may be for their own safety and well-being, or for the safety of others; it may be about how they respect and behave toward other people; it may be about the rules of society. Children have to learn to…
Death – It’s a Matter of Timing
There’s a natural order to life, rules which we expect to follow, principles which are generally accepted: Unfortunately, these rules do not always apply. There are no guarantees about life. We often hear on news bulletins of famous people dying. Sometimes their death comes as no surprise – they were getting on in life anyway.…
Defining an Exploitative Relationship
The Difficulty of Policing – A Thin Blue Line
When there’s a clear distinction between the good guys and the baddies, it’s not too difficult to enforce the law. But unfortunately, it’s not always like that! You’re a police officer; you’re clad in full riot gear; you’re on the front line facing a large, noisy protest. The situation is confrontational. The order comes through…
Too Scared To Say Anything At All
As Thumper says in Bambi, “If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.” Wise words from the young rabbit! But in this age of correctness and sensitivity, we even need to be wary of saying something nice. Too often, our words can be misconstrued, overly dissected or considered inappropriate. Even compliments…
Alienated from Society by Technology
Over the last few weeks, I have spent some time with my elderly parents, and one of the most noticeable aspects of their lives is how distant and estranged they are from modern life. They just don’t understand it. Now I accept that every generation will, at times, incomprehensively shake its head at subsequent generations.…
Letting Go of your Children
Travel Pay for Low Pay
An environmentally positive change to the employment market that would operationally improve the labour force, as well as having a beneficial levelling-up effect on incomes with no governmental cost… too good to be true? Here’s an idea. All employees on minimum wage (or to a specific amount above this) should be paid “Travel Relief” by…
Marriage – Is It For Better or For Worse?
The idea that marriage is purely a formal, public pledge of love, devotion, and commitment misunderstands the historical and genealogical purpose of this ceremonial bond. We should abandon any romantic notions we might have, and, instead, recognise marriage for what it really is – a managerial, controlling practice. In our early existence, male leaders, living…
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