Rules, carefully understood and firmly enforced, "are our proof to the child that we care that he learns to become responsible, a care that he interprets as love..." William Glasser

I took a class last summer titled Schools Without Failure and the professor quoted and referred to William Glasser quite often.  There are many more of his quotes that really meant a lot to me but this one stuck with me because I am a teacher and a mother and I feel it applies to both.  I really feel that this is a reminder to teachers and parents that fighting the battle of teaching responsibility is one worth fighting for, no matter how resistant some children might be.  It is those children who resist the most, that will greatly benefit from rules and structure and will eventually love you back for investing your time in them.  We all have had students who in the past were "the problem child"  who really pushed the limit in following your rules. We spent the entire year feeling like we couldn't make a connection with them or that they just hated everything about us including our rules.  But then it pays off because as the students enter the school for the first time after summer vacations "the problem child" sees you and greets you with a smile and a hug. That's the moment when you know all along that child appreciated everything you did for them including those rules he/she had a hard time following.