A Certificate for...... 'Good Sneezing'

[SlightlyJaded]

FFS.

Friends DS (7) came home from school yesterday with a certificate. It was for 'Good Sneezing'. When his mum asked him what was good about his sneeze he said it was because he remembered to cover his mouth. For about a second I thought maybe they were being hyper-vigilant ridiculous in light of Corona, but the mum told me his sister got a certificate for 'Brilliant Sitting' before half term because her back was straight and she didn't fidget in assembly.

My DC are young teens now and although I have vague memories of meaningless medals for 'participating', the flurry of certificates dished out these days seems mad.

I blame the ease with which one can be designed and spat out of a printer. Nobody had computers or printers when I was a child certificates were rare and precious - now you get one for fucking sneezing!

So AIBU to say STOP WITH THE ENDLESS CERTIFICATES?

Yanbu, I do not understand the need to reward children (and adults!) all the time. Good sneezing ffs 😂

YABU children love a certificate, and teachers need all the help they can get to moderate behaviour!

@picklemewalnuts - but surely at primary level you can do house points/star charts as a nod towards particularly good behaviour. Certificates should be special and for real achievements, surely?

As a childminder who spends most of the day being coughed and sneezed on I think a certificate for covering their mouth is richly deserved .

My poor DD15 got a demerit for sneezing last week so he should count himself lucky!
And she wasn’t doing a dramatic over the top “ can’t help it Miss” sneezing fit to annoy her teacher - she sneezed once and everyone laughed so she got a demerit for disrupting the class.

sneezing! Brilliant.

DD went on a school trip to the courthouse.
She got a certificate for impeccable behaviour in court.
She has selective mutism, a severe anxiety disorder meaning she can't speak when somewhere unfamiliar! So of course she was well behaved!

Love it.

Mine got a sad face once under the 'Teamwork' heading.

Nicely vague. An air of glossing over. Simply a bit of undercover poking and shoving or actively distributing anarchist literature?

I didn't ask.

Teachers use what works. It will still have taken some effort, I'd guess it was a key point that day!

If you are handing them out several at a time for finishing work, arriving on time etc then it's house points. The children don't remember what they got them for. A certificate though...

Good sneezing?

At least it wasn’t for exceptionally poor bottom wiping 😉

Mind you, I get excellent results with older children using invisible jellybeans.

I took a day off work once (contractor so don't work don't get paid) because we had a note home to say our DD would be getting a certificate at the Awards day.

Turns out it everyone in the class was getting one, hers was for "best cuddles"

I had a couple of certificates in frames on my wall as a child. Ballet grades, swimming silver certificate, a really fancy one from the Rotary Club of Great Britain for a Musical Performance I won - complete with a wax seal and in pride of place a Blue Peter one. These were a BIG DEAL and warranted a glass frame and regular dusting.

Sneezing certificates somehow diminish the ones you work really hard for IMO

Surely covering your mouth with your hand is not good sneezing? 😷

My DS5 class has star of the week which I'm fairly sure they just cycle through all the kids so they feel involved. They come up with some weird reasons such as sitting properly and listening, although they are mostly work related e.g. being good at spellings or counting.

DC's preschool had a stamp they used on the back of the kids hands. Those hand stamps were like crack for toddlers.

DS told me he got one in nursery once for having "really good orange hair" DD got one once for "having kind hands when playing with X" which I translated to "not punching X like usual"

That's so cute!!

YABU!

I have 2 primary aged DC's and one at uni. I stick all the praise cards on the fridge, when my oldest comes home from uni she shakes her head at why the praise cards are giving out...they've had "sitting nice in assemble", "being ready 1st for gym" etc. Some of the reasons are a bit silly but if it means my DC'S are fair chuffed with themselves then I don't care.

not sure what you're getting at - good sneezing is a good idea right now.
Are you saying you don't think positive reinforcement is a good thing?

Hmm, they shouldn't be too hard to get as then kids aren't that bothered, but good sneezing is rather silly unless it's done as a joke.

DS's teacher certainly makes them earn them, but they're perfectly achievable.

Anything that reinforces and rewards good hygiene and good manners is fine by me. Small (and often not so small) children generally respond well when they are ‘caught’ doing the right thing. They respond even better when there is a tangible acknowledgment such as a sticker or a little certificate, that they made a good choice or remembered to sneeze into a tissue or whatever, so why not?

While they’re having to remember so many things such as hygiene, consideration towards others, listening, sharing, tidying up after themselves etc, I think rewards are an excellent idea. The non-academic areas of school life are very important and often rather tedious to have to remember to do for a young child. If getting a certificate makes doing these things easier, that’s a good thing imo.

My children's junior school awarded children with certificates for all sorts of weird stuff, the only rule being that every child would get at least one certificate during the course of the year (some got more).

My son, who failed to ingratiate himself to staff for the whole year, eventually got a certificate on the last day of term for "good handwriting". You could almost hear the teacher saying, "Shit - we haven't given one to Anonlet, what can we say he does well?....." Son was not impressed (his handwriting isn't very good in fact, and there are many great things about him which were missed or not encouraged in the school). It dented his self-esteem further to be fobbed off with a generalised compliment, instead of the teacher actually finding out what he is good at and praising that.

I agree with PP that these certificates devalue the ones given for actual achievements. Moreover, they insult the children to whom they are given. It's patronising and meaningless.

At least it wasn’t for exceptionally poor bottom wiping

....And a round of applause, please, for today's worthy winner....

Perhaps it's that you place TOO much importance on certificates rather than the school placing too little. I don't think anyone expects a 'good sneezing' award to be framed and dusted (although personally, I would rather keep that than most) and there's no reason to treat every certificate the same.

That reminds me of an episode of Embarrassing Bodies where a man was concerned about his really itchy bottom and was worried about infections, haemhorroids - or even maybe something very serious.

Dr Christian quickly diagnosed the problem and advised him that "You may want to re-visit your wiping technique" I do hope the man had a follow-up appointment a month later and proudly received his 'Owner Of The Most Improved Clean Bottom' certificate

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

No applause. Well, not unleess they’ve washed their hands. Don’t want to get pebbledashed with the aftermath of exceptionally poor bottom wiping...