I know there is controversy over money for grades, so what is 'appropriate'? How does a parent motivate a child to do well in school? Some kids, they motivate themselves, others need a little more pushing. All kids are different, thus need to be treated differently.
All my kids are smart whipper snappers. Me, I was average but that didn't bother me. I was just trying to survive life. But it's amazing to have three kids and all three are so different in their approach to life and school. Does it make a difference if the child is the first, middle or last child? I'm sure that does play a role in part of it. We think we parent the same way for all our kids, but truth be told, we relax a lot more after the first child. Does that mean we don't expect the same out of all of them? No. We expect all of our kids to do well in school because we know they are all capable of doing well. Do we push and push? No. We encourage, but in the end, it is up to each child to determine his/her future.
Each child has different motivators too. Some, it's money, some it's expensive clothes, some it's just trinkets. Depends on the age of the child too. Today's technology allows parents to check on their kids' grades daily. This can also be frustrating seeing homework and test grades so I stopped checking and left it up to the child to check, trying to teach accountability.
The end of the year came and finals were taken and grades are now posted instantly...let's just say my hubby and I were not expecting to have to meet our end of the bargain...SHOCKER!! Needless to say we were speechless, but yet SO proud that the challenge was met and even succeeded it!
I am the penny pincher of the family and really have a hard time pushing the 'enter' button, but surprisingly, I wasn't the one hesitating this time. I think hubby was still in shock. But how great will it be to see the total surprise on the face of our child for a job well done!!
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