Using memorisation as a punishment for kids

[Ummshareef]

:sl:

I was wondering what parent's views are on something I'd not heard of before, which is disciplining kids for misbehaviour by setting them a memorisation task. I have had this method recommended to me by a couple of sisters who send their mashallah kids to their bedroom if they get too rowdy or are rude and give them a shortish surah or some ayats to memorise. When the child thinks they are ready they can come downstairs and have to recite the surah in front of mum with no mistakes or go away and come back and try again until they get it right.

It sounds like a good way of getting something good out of a bad situation but I'm not sure whether I'm entirely comfortable with this, as I wouldn't really want my kids to think of memorisation as a chore or punishment, rather something that should be a source of joy.

[Abz2000]

dunno - it will feel like a punishment for them rather than something positive - they'll associate learning Quran with a negative experience,
i personally feel it should be done as normal lessons with a reward for every accomplishment. that should make them feel good about it and have a positive feeling about it throughout their lives, we used to HATE arabic classes when we were little simply due to the strictness of the teacher, when we got our freedom of choice - we messed up bad. it took a lot of falling into ditches and getting negative associations with the fake freedoms to come back to the path
this video should explain a little:

[Salahudeen]

Wouldn't they just end up hating memorization since it was a punishment? There's no such thing as a fun enjoyable punishment, kids grow up hating the things they were punished with not loving them. But it isn't much of a punishment so who knows I could be wrong. But if memorization was linked with something negative I don't think I'd enjoy it.

[dž.as.a.džasmin]

As a graduated pedagogue i can say that method is totaly wrong. Those kids will associate reading and memorising Kur'an with a negative experience, as brother abz2000 already mentioned, and in older age they will try to avoid memorising it.
If parents dont want to use classic methods of punishment and reward, they can try some different methods but the one which are scientifically proven. One of that methods is called restitution. For more informations about it - read book by Diane Chelsom-Restitution

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[Ummshareef]

Jazakallah Khayr for the replies.

You have confirmed my inner feeling that this is not an appropriate context for memorisation. Insha'allah, I will follow more traditional Islamic ways to discipline my kids if ever necessary subhanallah and will never make them memorise surahs for any reason other than love of the Qu'an. alHumdulillah they love memorisation and I would not want them to associate hifdh with anything negative. I will have to think of a way of tactfully steering the sisters that mentioned this to me away from this approach, insha'allah.

[Snowflake]

It's about as useful as rewarding good behavior with junk food.

[IslamicRevival]

Punishment? We shouldn't punish, Rather nurture and guide.

[taz...]

I wouldn't really want my kids to think of memorisation as a chore or punishment, rather something that should be a source of joy.

I'm sprry, but thats preciseley what would happen. Memorising the quran is supposed to be somehting positive, beneficial. not a punishment which should be avoided. I think if done enough times, this negative association can stick. Children's minds are impressionalble, they cant see things the way adults do. its a bad idea.

[Kitsune92]

i think punishing kids with memorization would just do the opposite of what you wanted it to do, right?

[footy_craze]

ya, agree with some posts here. They would learn to hate memorizing Qur'an or whatever your trying to make them memorize.