Rewards for good grades?

[Sweet]

I was hoping to gain more insight into this issue. To the parents...do you offer rewards for A's or good grades? To the students here, do you get rewards for better grades? But, more importantly, do you think a monetary reward (such as $10 for an A) will help or discourage a student? Thank you in advance for your comments.....

[the one post lady ...lol ]

ps. I will get to 2 posts someday!!! I am in no hurry

[dragonb]

hello 1 post person..
Well, I'm not quite a parent yet, but soon.
My parents did a pretty good job I think. At the end of every term, we had a report card meeting with a parent(in this case my dad, the silent one we were all scared of) and we discussed what grades in what subjects we were going to bring up. Then we wrote out a goal sheet. Example: Math C to B+, English B to A
and then at the end of the term, all those who reached all of their goals were taken out to icecream.(which used to be a big deal) Anyway, with 7 kids, getting left home stunk, and being the only one once was great.
I found a couple things about this good.
1. not all kids can get A's. I got straight A's with hardly any work(schools here stink)(and don't worry, I got a rude awakening in College) But, a brother and a sister worked many times harder than I did, and sometimes pulled A's. So this program rewarded both of us the same.
2. It showed our parents cared, and kept track of what we were doing, our goals, etc.
3. The process was continuous. ie no term to get bad grades just to bring up. end of year carried over to the next year.
Anyway, my $.02
dragonb

Welcome to Techimo Sweet !!

I don't offeer my kids anything but praise

Madfish

[kenyg]

No, we don't reward our kids with money for grades.

We've got an 8th, 7th, and 1st grade in my house. (14, 13, and 7).

They've (the older ones especially) have got it pretty good - but if the grades slip, they LOSE things - like computer, dreamcast etc. privledges.... usually it works out ok. Once and a while we suffer through a semester - but overall it seems to help.

Now that the boys have gotten older, (and are both jocks) - they want to play for their school teams -- and in order to do that the grades have to be there as well - just another incentive.


Ken

[JW]

Sweet,
Same as Madfish. Praise. 4 kids grown,
1- 12 year old at home. So far one of 5 in his
school on A honor roll all year.

JW

[OuTpaTienT]

hehe, whenever I brought home a report card that I wasn't ashamed of I would get the gift of freedom! iow I'd get let off restriction (since I was usually on it). But that would last only so long before I'd do something else to land me back in confinement...if only we had the internet back then, that would've been great.

But I don't advise that method of "un-punishment" for the normal kid.

If you're gonna do the cash for grades thing I'd only suggest you make the reward curve very steep. It might end up costing you a small fortune...but geeez, what parent wouldn't mind parting with a few bucks to see their kid being successful?

I'd suggest something like
A = $25
B = $5
C = $0 (you get to keep the roof over your head & the free food)
D = <-$10.00>
F = <-$50.00> + community service + solitary confinement + KP duty + etc. etc.

That way it's kinda "real world-ish". If they accel and their work puts them in the top category (A) then they get rewarded handsomely...if their performance is just "average" then they get squat...and if they don't perform as expected then there's a heavy price to pay. They're are gonna have to deal that in the working world (at least until they own their own companies) so may as well get them accustom to the "rat race".

[cadetstimp]

..didn't ever get money

I think it was good that way....it forced a better sense of motivation. Even better with parent participation ... creates a sense of "we" got an A. (Unless Dad takes over the science project LOL!)

One thing that helped even more.... During part of the summers starting in Junior High and through High School I would have to work hard in Dad's business (construction). Working the outside world really helped me value how choices make a big difference. It provided a really valuable viewpoint (smaler duck in a bigger pond) before making a decision on what I wanted to do as a career. Too many go straight from High School to College without really getting their feet wet in the real world to first to find out what career they're studying for IMHO.

[Warthog]

all those who reached all of their goals were taken out to icecream

IMHO, that shows favoritism and I would never do that.
"Good job, Timmy, Sue and Bob...lets all go get icecream!"
"Larry, you'll have to stay home."

Doesn't feel right with me.

Out - your idea sounds like a dictatorship with the negative money. Me thinks it would create hostility towards the parent, running a military-type household.

Warthog

[hawkeye177]

I think it works. Well i get paid for good grades. If you are going to do that say it in the beginning of the semester. No use letting a child know there are going to get money when they no longer can do anything about it. Also it works if they really want something like a new game or something like that. It is better than money. A offer for Dsl or broadband works fine too.

Did you hear that dad!!

[OuTpaTienT]

Exactly Wart...and the solution to that....is.....? Don't get "D"s or "F"s.

If you don't do your job and get fired, do you have hostility towards your boss for firing you? Maybe...but you shouldn't. Most are keen enough to realize that if they did their job in the first place they wouldn't have got fired.

"D"s and especially "F"s are not just bad grades Wart. You can't just say oh well, he got an "F"...he'll do better next time. "D"'s are a sign of a serious problem. And "F"s are simply unacceptable.