Everything we do in life is a choice.  And as importantly, every choice we make has a consequence.  The consequences of our choices can be positive/rewarding or negative/damaging.  Most adults know this, and as they go through every-day decision-making processes, their cognitive reasoning carefully weights risk and likely consequences. But somewhere along the way we have to be taught these things, modeling and personal experience being the main ways.

The Ithemba afterschool curriculum focuses on teaching children about consequences through the “Star Students” program, which uses positive reinforcement to get children to behave.  The program is simple; students who behave, do their homework & participate during classroom sessions, engage in activities and have a good attitude, on a given day will receive a star as a reward.  At the end of the week if a student has accrued enough stars they receive a reward.  The rewards vary each week, sometimes small, sometimes big, and are used as extrinsic motivation for building solid decision-making skills. Rewards also teach the children the value of meritocracy.

Last Friday we threw a small party for our 15 star students in the LUO safe house and it was a blast.  The highlight was baking bran muffins with the help of 15 eager sue chefs.  After carefully mixing the batter, the kids enthusiastically licked the bowls as we waited for the muffins to bake. The children checked the muffins every 15 seconds for 30 minutes until they finally came out of the oven.  I was amazed to see something that took so much time to make, disappear in the blink of an eye.  The children devoured the delectable muffins with lightening speed.

The perfect ending to another week working with these special children- Life is good!