Rewarding your kids for good grades?

Question

I am curious to see if there are any parents who still do this. when I was in school, my parents rewarded me for good grades with money, the scales was:

A - I got $5
B - I got $3
C - I owed them $2

anything below a c was unacceptable and if I ever got straight A's it was $100

Does anyone still do this or plan to do this with their children?
I completely intend to do this with my son. It made me work hard in school to get good grades and taught me that less than 100% effort and there were consequences.

this only applies to grades. I never got rewarded for doing my normal chores or anything like that, those were just expected to be done.

In response to the last post, I never took the easy way out just so I could get the higher amount. Throughout school I was always in honors classes. I enjoyed the challenge.

Answer 1

I think that it is a great idea. I mean, c'mon, anyone who says it is not the best way is crazy!! Isn't that what this whole world is about?! And, if it makes them study and do well in school, they should get "paid" and be able to do something nice. We all work hard everyday to make money, so what kind of hypocrates would we be if we said it was wrong. Isn't that how they are going to have to make a living in their life, anyway? Work hard, get paid? I plan on doing the same with my kids, too.

Answer 2

Everyone I know raked in the cash every report card...except for my family. You got an A, that's what you're supposed to do. You got a B, you got a lecture on trying harder and realizing your full potential. You got a C, you did your homework under supervision and all afternoon activities were stopped. You got a D, you got a tutor, supervised homework, and you didn't leave the house till you were thirty. The only time they lifted these mandates was when I was in the hospital off and on for a semester. They accepted B's and C's then but still lectured on still having to perform up to standard despite circumstances. Now, I don't plan on doing the same with my daughter because I always felt that my parents were simply continually disappointed in me. I wasn't a boy and I wasn't smart enough no matter how hard I tried. However I don't plan to pay for grades either. Maybe an extra privilege for an A and lots of praise whenever my daughter does her best no matter what the result is. If she tries her best I plan on making it obvious that I'm proud of her. Depending on how her personality continues to develop will determine the method I go about that.

Answer 3

That is a great concept. I don't use the money scale but I definitely reward for good grades. I take them on special outings and buy them gifts for good grades. Bad grades will cause them to be punished and miss out on events that they normally would have been able to attend. The begin to realize that if they had spent more time being concerned with schoolwork and homework, they would have more privileges.

Answer 4

NOPE!!!

I've been reading Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn and it's completely opened my eyes. Coupled w/ the knowledge I gained in college studying psychology (I have a BA in psych and BS in microbiology) about intrinsic motivation versus exstrinsic (apologies, my spelling may be a little off today).

In the long run, rewards tend to be as damaging to motivation as punishment. Kids who receive rewards for performance tend to learn LESS even if their grades are higher (in fact, grades are a form of reward that is also highly questionable). Those kids tend to take fewer risks in learning to give a higher insurance of success. In other words, when faced w/ a choice of a very difficult task where a great deal of learning is to be had but mistakes are likely to be made and a much less difficult, more rote task where there is no challenge but success is almost assured, most kids who are rewarded will choose the LESS CHALLENGING task!

The important part of learning is the learning itself. How much does the child learn and how much does s/he retain over the long haul. Cramming for a test and studying to the test are all consequences of the emphasis on performance rather than learning. Retention is very poor in these cases. How much of the material for high school do YOU remember?

Some kids seem immune to these effects, but most are not. And the effects can be very sublte. Even if the desired effect of increasing or keeping grades up is acheived, how do we know that the child has really learned the material, taken pleasure in the challenge and will keep it over the long haul?

You might want to check out the info on intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic before you make your decision.

Answer 5

My husband and I don't pay our kids (yes, in the sense of a reward) for good grades.. my father in law does though.. but they know that is just something expected of us.. BUT we do go out on a family fun night for good report cards where we take 1 out (the others go to grandma and grandpa's) and that child gets to chose what we do that night, then the next night we take our other school aged daughter out and she gets to chose what we do that night. That way they get rewarded, but at the same time we stay close to our kids!

Answer 6

I don't reward with money (the kids do chores for that) but I do reward for good grades. Everytime my son brings home a good grade, we go out to ice-cream, fast food, movie... it's his choice.

Answer 7

Very good idea... but it should only apply in school/grades purposes... i know some that their kids won't do anything they ask them to do without rewards... so be careful where this leads to.

Answer 8

Yes I do reward them for good grades, I don't give them cash but, I do take them to McDonalds or something and sometimes I will get them a small gift , like a Barbie Doll or something.I did give them cash for getting on the honor roll, I gave them 20.00

Answer 9

I agree with you it makes you work real hard. My daughter got $50.00 for all a's and b's and $100.00 at the end of the year if she maintained it. She maintained her a's and b's status until 9th grade and now she is getting one or two c's on each report card. I like your idea on the c's. Never thought about it. By the way she is in all honors classes.(in high school)

Answer 10

I would reward with money for good grades but I definitely would not demand money for less than perfect ones like your parents did with you.