Do children learn that they have choices when they are punished for making the wrong ones? No, and here’s why. I’ve been told by several people recently that immediate punishment with no excuses (e.g being sent to isolation) shows children they have choices. Their logic, it seems, is that they learn that they could choose to avoid isolation by behaving differently. This way of seeing child behaviour - as a matter of conscious choice - is not based in developmental cognitive science or psychology. There is no evidence that the reason why children behave so differently to each other is because they simply make conscious choices to do so. Behaviour is both a reaction to the environment and a communication, although often not an intentional one. Different people react in different ways to the world. Young people are developing the skills of self monitoring and inhibitory control, right up to the age of 25. They develop this at different rates - and this isn’t a choice. No one gets to choose how quickly their brains mature. Their ability to control their behaviour is variable - at any particular age for some their behaviour might be a choice, for others it isn’t. Immediate punishment with no excuses does not help children learn that they have choices. It shows them that they have no choices except compliance. It’s a method of control, nothing more or less, and no one should pretend that it’s helping those young people learn how to behave. You don’t learn self control through being controlled.
@naomicfisher They should be taught to follow rules on the basis of rational reasons highlighting the benefit of certain behaviors. “I behave so because it leads to the best outcomes for all”, fear of punishment or wish to get a reward disconnect their choices from the consequences of behavior