Have You Ever Bribed Your Child To Do Well In School?

hi gtargirl, though i dont have kids i was one not too long ago so have some thoughts on this ;) my parents never bribed me nor my sister to study or do well in school we did so on our own. i am at one of the best unis in the country and both of us are working on degrees in mathematics. i was once a little surprised that my friend down the street got a gameboy for passing the 4th grade.... and i didnt get anything for my As. i dont think that its good behaviour to teach your kids but i think its worth it at this point if itll help him in the long run and to get into college. hopefully he can realize to do it on his own hes obviously a very bright kid!

I don't think bribe is the correct word. Bribe is associated with something negative and this is being given to somebody to let go a certain thing or to do certain thing illegally. The correct word for this should be "reward". Before, I would advise my nieces that if they do good in school and no failing grades in their report card, that I will take them to the amusement park and have a time of their lives for a day. That usually did the trick and grades would improve. Now, after 10 years, they are requesting their mother to give them touch screen mobile phones, Galaxy Tabs and laptops. Good thing that they ask all these from their mom. Otherwise, I will be in big financial trouble.

no, i did not believe in bribing, I was never bribed and I was going to bribe my son either. That is great that you son did so well.

I try not to do so. I hope that I can still let him understand it is enjoyable to study in school. And study is not a suffering thing. So I will not bribe him to behave well in school. I hope he can know that it is natural and normal to behave well in school. Sometimes I tell him that if it is time to study, then you shall focus to it. If it is time to play, then you can play it hard. If you do well in school, namely you shall have more spare time in the summer vacation because you don't have to go to study and review your lessons again in other schools. I love China

That was a big point of contention between me and my husband when our kids were growing up. I got good grades in school to please my family and because it felt good and I expected my kids to do the same while my husband wanted to "reward" them for good grades. My position is that the good grades are reward enough with the approval of people you love. So, my kids were bribed but it wasn't the cash that drove them nor I that bribed them. I praised them for good grades and expressed disappointment at bad ones and that was enough. But kids are different and what works for one might not work for another.

Well, come to think of it, I now realize that I was bribed this way when I was growing up. I remember that I always had a medal when I graduate and back then, all I think about was how I'll get a new toy or a new computer game or a new book. I'm so gullible.

Well, I don't have any kids, but since I'm still young enough to remember my entire schooling career ... I never got any bribes to do well or rewards for doing well. I did it just because I knew I should, so I kept my grades up. My older sister, on the other hand, ended up doing so poorly she was given the promise of money for every A she got in school (she still did pretty poorly though). Bribing works, but sometimes it escalates into bigger and bigger rewards as time goes by. I guess motivation to stay motivated for school really varies from one person to another, bribes or no.