57. Small Pleasures and Rewards

Topic 57 5 October 2018 Small Pleasures and Rewards

1. What are some small pleasures in you average day?

2. After doing something you hate but have to do, how do you 'reward' yourself?

3. What is a small favour you might do for a friend?

4. Is it more important to enjoy small, frequent pleasures, or have a goal for big success sometime in the future? Why?

5. Do you think children should have to do daily chores (e.g. wash dinner dishes) or should they be completely free to play? Why?

6. Maybe you reward yourself with a piece of chocolate. It's nice, so you have another piece of chocolate, and another.. When do your small rewards stop being something special, and maybe even become a bad habit?

7. A generation ago it was more common for Australians to 'dress up' at certain times, like going to church on Sunday, or even going to the cinema. Now a lot of people dress casually all the time (me!). Do you get a small pleasure from 'dressing up' at certain times? What do you think about the new custom of dressing casually all the time?

8. Sunday dinner used to be a special meal for many families in Australia. Often it would be a leg of roast lamb, with baked potato and other vegetables, followed by a sweet dessert. It was all made at home and took a long time to prepare. The whole family would sit around a big table, and father would carve the meat ... How are meals different now? Are there special meals?

9. Some workplaces offer small rewards to individual workers at certain times (e.g. their birthday). Do you think this is a good idea? Why? [..ha, ha, a college management in South Korea once bought me a birthday cake, put it in a fridge, and didn't tell me about it for two weeks after my birthday! In another Korean university students bought me a cake for 'teacher's day', but the greedy manager ate ALL of it before I saw it! ]

10. When you get a 'Like' on Facebook or other social media, how much pleasure do you get from it? Are you disappointed if nobody 'Likes' your post?