[*] "Catch them doing something good"

You must read this news item for your own good. Apparently it is humiliating to admit you're a slacker.

Let's unpack that, shall we? In spite of the fact that the homeless ought to have pride, it is apparently an act which could cause permanent emotional damage to make a child who is not actually homeless wear a sandwich board which says that she's doing lousy at school and is practicing for her future career as a homeless person.

See: I think that the theory that we have to catch them doing something good is placing the onus for discipline on the wrong end of the stick. At work, your boss is not going to nose around your work record trying to find something good to say about you in order to give you a raise. If you are a loser, you're going to get fired. And if you are waiting for your spouse to snuff up that one truffle in the behavioral pigsty of your life, you better not hold your breath.

Disciple is about turning away the small examples of human stupidity with clear object lessons in order to prevent real life from crushing the child like a useless empty box. Someone who grows up thinking that they can be on the mark 10% of the time and get rewarded for it is in from a rude awakening. Set the alarm clock now so they wake up early.