Rewards for good grades?

[Clare]

What do you think about rewarding your children for getting good grades?

Emily brought home her first school report card last week and it was excellent :biggrin: Alex's first reaction was "she needs some money for that". I don't know how I feel about that. :dunno: I don't want her to think that the only reason to work hard at school is to get paid. I also don't want to make distinctions between the kids - what if the boys bring home mediocre reports? :dunno: (Alex's reaction to that question was that we'll pay $50 for an excellent report and only $20 for a good one :scratch: )

I really don't know how I feel about this. I certainly wasn't paid or rewarded for getting good grades in school :dunno:

[Bridget]

I know there will be many opinions on this subject. We were never rewarded for good grades and I do not intend to reward our kids - other than maybe a special dinner or something if the child was struggling and really turned things around. Hard to predict that, though! :lol:

Anyway, I was just taught that doing well was its own reward, and that's how I plan to treat it. Plus, some students do better than others, no matter how hard they try. Sometimes the grade doesn't represent the effort. We won't give cash or special gifts.

:)

[Joan]

:lol: I know there will be many opinions on this subject. We were never rewarded for good grades and I do not intend to reward our kids - other than maybe a special dinner or something if the child was struggling and really turned things around. Hard to predict that, though!

Anyway, I was just taught that doing well was its own reward, and that's how I plan to treat it. Plus, some students do better than others, no matter how hard they try. Sometimes the grade doesn't represent the effort. We won't give cash or special gifts.

:)

I agree. But you are talking to a mother who was thrilled Sean didn't have any F's:lol:. He went from an F to a C in English and we were so happy. If he came home with an A, any A, I would probably have a heart attack, then take him shopping.

Emily is different. I think Emily is probably proud and feels really good about her marks. Plus I'm sure you and Alex have shown how proud you are of her. Plus, I'm sure she heard you telling others about how wonderful she did. I think that is the best reward. Why mess with a good thing?

I'm not against rewards, not at all. When a parent or teacher needs a motivator, rewards work. But not all children need them.

[Nadine]

Since Yumi had a really hard time adjusting to school and meds and all, when he got a good report card, yes, we got him a reward. We give him a reward for every report card. And while whether or not the grades are good is important, what we stress is the EFFORT he put in to receive what he got.
So I guess it is not the same situation as with Em.
I am not talking about money. We took him to a toy store and let him choose a reward this time. The other times we got him things we knew he'd really love.

Of course doing well is the best reward - no other rewards needed in theory. But think about yourself. Isn't it neat to get a nice bonus at work once you put in a lot of work?

So in short, I am for rewards but it really depends on the kid. Of course once you decide on a route, you can't give rewards to one child and not to his/her siblings or the opposite.

[MrsPeacefrog]

You see I work hard at my job irrelevant of wether I get a bonus at the end or not (99% of the time its not) because I was taught by my parents that if I am going to do something I need to put my 100% into it and do it well. I think when you start giving rewards it puts it into there mind when they are adults that they should only put in effort if there is going to be something at the end for them, and in alot of work situations it just isn't the case.

I agree with you Clare, I don't like rewards in situations like that.

I agree with Joan on rewarding a "F" child turning it around but I wouldn't make a practice of that either due to sending the wrong message.

I was never rewarded as a child and it didn't stop me from making effort. I just don't think its necessary.

[Kristen]

I was rewarded for grades, but not until late middle school/ early high school. Basically, I was paid something like $3 per A, $2 per B, but if I made a C, I had to pay them! heheh

I don't know if I'll pay for grades...I def wouldn't do it until they are a teenager.

Maybe let her pick somewhere special for the family to eat or select a book (something educational) that would be meaningful to her?

[Karri]

Like other posters, I was never rewarded for my grades. I guess it was just always stressed that good grades were the reward itself.
Of course, I have no probelm with being proud. Let her know just how proud you are. Maybe let her choose a special dinner one night. But that is where I think I'd draw the line.

[Kara]

I was rewarded for grades, but not until late middle school/ early high school. Basically, I was paid something like $3 per A, $2 per B, but if I made a C, I had to pay them! heheh

I don't know if I'll pay for grades...I def wouldn't do it until they are a teenager.

Maybe let her pick somewhere special for the family to eat or select a book (something educational) that would be meaningful to her?

DH was rewarded for grades pretty much the same way....I wasn't at all..So we meet in the middle..Sometimes we do money (again a C, he would have to pay US)...sometimes we do a special reward dinner and he gets to pick the place..or we give him an amt and go for a special treat at the toy store. I will do the same with Austin when he gets into grade school.

[Jayne]

We do not give rewards. We tell Tylor how proud we are and he is so excited to show us how well he has done. He is pretty much an all A/B student so we would be paying out a lot :lol: We do however take the family out for a grading period. It doesn't matter how he does. We feel it is a special dinner that he chooses for all his hard work that 9 weeks. Doesn't matter what his grades are. I know he has worked hard at school...Somewhat like we are rewarded weekly/biweekly..what ever with a paycheck! He enjoys it and we have a lot of fun. Heck he usually picks to go to Bob Evans :lol:

[Melissa]

I wasn't paid for grades, but then again, As came easily to me, so even though I wasn't putting a lot of effort into school, I was still doing really well. However, for my brother, getting a B was a really big deal. He struggled to get good grades.

So I just don't see that a letter on a report card is really a good indicator of how the student is working. If a student did their best and earned that C, then yes, reward him/her because they did the best that they possibly could.

[MelissaM]

I reward at the end of the year only...or if there is something super important that they REALLY struggled with or spent alot of time on and did well with..

End of the year reward is for doing well but also as a "YAY, you did it! You got through this grade! Woohoo time for summer!" kind of thing :)

[Alyssa]

Maybe let her choose a special dinner one night.This was exactly what I was going to suggest.

I would not want to get caught up in a reward cycle for good grades. I fear it would send the wrong message of what her responsibilities are (read: her job is to go to school) and she might come way too much to expect that.

Do any places around you reward for grades? That doesn't bother me as much. Like, we had some places here that would give you a string of bowling for every A, or an ice cream cone for each A.

[magoo]

I would never consider paying my child for good report cards. I was never given anything but a stern talking to when one of my mid-term report cards had a C on it. :lol: Okay, so that's not true. I always knew that my parents were proud of me when I worked hard and achieved success in school and I think that the approval and pride of the parents should be enough.

[Silke]

I reward at the end of the year only...or if there is something super important that they REALLY struggled with or spent alot of time on and did well with..

End of the year reward is for doing well but also as a "YAY, you did it! You got through this grade! Woohoo time for summer!" kind of thing :)
Another end of the year rewarder :biggrin: I'd go broke if I reward for every report card. :lol:
Usually we do something special: a movie, a dinner etc.
One time she got a shopping spree at a particular store I usually do not go shopping for her.

[Nadine]

I was wondering - how many report cards do you have per year?

We have only 2. So to us getting thru a semester with good grades and - more importantly - an effort to do well (not only grade-wise but behavior-wise etc) deserves a reward. If we had 3 or more report cards (and a child with no ADHD issues) I might think differently.

[Silke]

Natascha gets the report cards quarterly, so 4 per year.

[MelissaM]

We have three...one in the Fall as a progress report...one after Christmas (indicating mid-term exam marks) and one at the end of the year ( as the full final marks for the year).

[Kara]

I was wondering - how many report cards do you have per year?

We have only 2. So to us getting thru a semester with good grades and - more importantly - an effort to do well (not only grade-wise but behavior-wise etc) deserves a reward. If we had 3 or more report cards (and a child with no ADHD issues) I might think differently.

4...we have 4 (9 week) grading periods.

[Shel]

Since the kids are set up on a ticket reward program, we do reward tickets for good grades, and double it for straight A's. But, it works out to be something like 50 cents per A if they cash in their tickets for money. We're cheap like that :lol:

[Clare]

This is her first report so I don't know how many we get. I'm guessing 3 or 4 a year :dunno:

I agree with everyone who said that doing well is the reward itself. DH and I were raised very differently so have opposite views on stuff like this.

They have a Book Fair at school this week and I let her choose a book as her "reward" but said it was for bringing home her first report rather then a reward for doing well.

[Alyssa]

They have a Book Fair at school this week and I let her choose a book as her "reward" but said it was for bringing home her first report rather then a reward for doing well.I think doing an occasional "good job" gift is fine. It's one thing to do it here and there, another to do it in a way they expect it as the reward...not that the grades themselves are the reward. KWIM? :)

[Bev]

That was a good way to handle it Clare.

I never earned money for grades, just praise from my parents. I agree with whoever said that they might not get a good work ethic if it is only to put in effort to get the reward at the end, rather than to be satisfied that they have done a great job.

I don't think I'll pay for grades but if there is an excellent effort I might take him to a special dinner or movie or something, but try to stress that it is for the effort he made not the letter of the grade. The effort is more important IMO.