Having dealt with numerous youngsters when running summer camps,  I quickly found that 90% of my time and attention was spent on those who were misbehaving. Through them receiving this extra attention, over a period of time they developed into positive leaders within the group.

Watching the American Presidential Election; Senator Obama was attacked at one point because he advocated reaching out and speaking to countries that the US has traditionally isolated for ‘bad behaviour’. Bad behaviour is an understatement, but I do wonder if embargoes and isolation work as well as we think.

Most parents will know that ignoring problems with children does not work and punishment only works when you follow through (one parent cannot ground a child while the other lets the child go out and play).    In addition if you’ve worked with children, the worst thing you can do is talk condescendingly towards them,  so why is it that we do these things on an international scale. The West scolds Russia for what happened in Georgia, but didn’t Georgia play a role in it too? 

International issues are complicated, and I won’t pretend to know how to solve problems, but one thing I have found is that sometimes tackling a problem from a new angle yields a more favourable outcome. The solution is not to get exasperated with and ignore them, but rather take the extra time to support them for them to see the world in a new light. Why aren’t world leaders looking at new ways to dialogue with countries that are misbehaving and why do we taunt someone for suggesting it?

Ethan Ohs