There are no bad kids

I have said this somewhere in the blog, but it won't hurt to make the point in bold. A teacher must verbally and explicitly explain the difference between being a "Bad boy or a girl" and "Bad behaviour". These two things mean very different things when seen from the point of view of a child.

 I have often seen teachers calling kids 'bad boy' or 'bad girl'. In most cases, what the teacher means, a common grown-up language, is that the behaviour of the kid is not acceptable. We all understand it, but do kids hear it that way ? Kid's language is not evolved enough to interpret it like adults do. They often fail to realize that "bad" refers to his/her behaviour and not to him/her. With repeated misfortune this could turn into "I am a bad girl or a boy".

When I want to severely scold someone, I explain that 'the behaviour is totally unacceptable'. Its the behaviour that I talk about and its the behaviour that I punish, never the boy or girl. Sporadically, I talk with kids about this difference . I say, while I won't distance them, neither will I tolerate their bad behaviour.

I think the cost of kids growing up with the "bad kid" label is too high. The solution is simple, start differentiating the two things. There are no bad kids, there is only bad behaviour.