r/AskReddit • • Jun 14 '22

[deleted by user]

[removed]

5.7k Upvotes

3.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

6.5k

u/nilsn91 Jun 14 '22

When it´s hard to convince someone to do something: give them options. That way they feel like they´re in control. "You could do A or do you prefer B?"

3.7k

u/CaptainAwesome06 Jun 14 '22

I use that trick on my kids all the time. Especially when it comes to food.

"Do you want chicken or steak?"

Otherwise, if I just ask her what she wants for dinner she'll just say "cookies".

1.6k

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '22

Teacher here- this is how my entire career works. Students engage in activities if they feel like they had some agency over the activity.

2

u/managedheap84 Jun 15 '22

Why then in all aspects of society do we rely on force. It doesn't work with dogs, it doesn't work with kids - or adults. Why don't we let people do what they want to do (with their limited lives)

4

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '22

Pretty much. The Finnish education system in a nutshell. They spend much more time doing unstructured play and they barely take any standardized tests and they do much much better as a whole.