Jojimar Kenneth M.

Gonowon

Reinforcement? Punishment? – Challenges for an Adult

I was raised in a family of soldiers and teachers. It was a challenging experience

because of the training that they got. They taught me what have they learned. I was in
fear with my father because he was a disciplinarian and my mother was very strict when
it comes to academics or shall we say everything in the house. I may say that I was not
seen as an intelligent or promising just like my elder sister but they knew me as a kind
and obedient boy, I am the bunso. I was very obedient and loving that is the reason why
I was loved by my parents until now even though I am old enough, they still support me
in everything. They missed doing things in my childhood and still, they are doing it now
but I am helping them in a lot of ways. My childhood is one of the best experiences of
my life. It is there, I was able to connect certain things that gave factor in me what I am
now.

It is always part of the process. Reinforcement and punishment will always be

part of our childhood yet it will always teach us a lesson that in every action that we do,
there would always an outcome whether, you took a lot of time doing it or you took only
a second to do it, there will always be a product. However, this is always a part of our
learning through experience and knowing our capabilities and limitations. And most
especially, knowing yourself on how to handle situations that are beyond our control.
Reinforcement and punishment are the primary stimuli for us to realize the cause of our
actions. It is very present in my childhood days. In our time, it was very different. My
mother was a teacher and It was she who always taught me how to read and of course
after our lessons there would always be a "mirienda" which made me excited when my
mother will tell me we will have our reading lessons. Perhaps that is one of the reasons
why I love reading. I made me feel special when I read books and later, I realized what
it brought me now. However, when I made mistakes, my mother scolded me to read
again and go back to where I had my mistakes. My feeling that time was as if I was
poured with cold water because of my mistakes and I was afraid to commit mistakes
because my mother will scold me. Yes, it helps but the success for me during my
childhood is to see my mother happy because of what I have achieved. Every time I
think of these things made me realized that we are always in the process of
understanding things most profoundly. We may think very simply our childhood that we
follow and comply everybody is happy. But we might lose what is very important. Are we
happy enough? To see our loved ones happy in what we achieve? Or are we happy
because we did an extra mile towards our own goal? Or am I happy because we
learned from our mistakes not because we do not want to commit mistakes because
someone might get angry? Which is which?

So far, I have been far away from that, and I know for myself what I have been
through. Sometimes, when you are adding numbers to your age, will make you realize,
what I have learned? Are there any reinforcements? Punishments? I think, a lot of them
yet these were converted to challenges that would make us move forward. And if I am
alive, I would always take the challenges every day with confidence and humility. We
never know what will happen in the future but we can be prepared through time or the
season prepared us for the future.