It’s an age-old debate – is it okay to pay a child for grades? I haven’t done it yet, and my husband is certainly opposed to it, but I have to admit I’m on the fence. Yeah, yeah, I know, getting the grade itself and feeling the sense of accomplishment should be the reward. We should reward our children with praise, not money, blah, blah, blah. Children are expected to do well in school. That is their job. Blah, blah, blah, blah!
I mean we all have jobs. We are expected to do them and do them well right? Why do we get our ass out of bed every day and go to work and do our best possible job (on most days anyway?) - is it for the reward of a job well done? No! It’s for money, a paycheck, remuneration baby! And some of us (sadly, not me) work in professions that if we do well - really, really well, we’ll get a bonus at the end of the year. An extra little (or hopefully big) pat on the back for performing so well. There’s a reason salespeople are paid commission – it’s called motivation.
The problem is I am such a wimp. If I promised my son $ for an A and he came close but didn’t get it he’d probably cry and say he tried so hard (which would be true – well, as hard as a good boy who is inherently lazy can try) and I would feel so badly for him I’d probably pay him anyway. It will prepare him for a future at a company like AIG. (Where it turns out big boys DO cry when they don’t get what was promised to them. Waa Waa Waa. Oops, sorry ADD-ing on another topic again.)
I’ve used the whole “we get paid for our jobs, why shouldn’t our children get a bonus for doing their job well” argument with my husband. He didn’t buy it. (No pun intended.) He’s way smarter than me and came up with some goobledy gook counter argument that I’ve since blocked out of my brain. A few days later I told him that if he vacuumed the house for me I’d dress up like Keira Knightly in Pirates of the Caribbean. Guess what? When I got home from running errands the house was vacuumed. You’d better believe bribery works. Now I’ve got to go find my pirate outfit!
What do you think? Is it okay to pay for grades? Does it help or hurt? Does it work? Will someone with perfect children who get good grades please come over and show me how it’s done? Or better yet, do it for me while I sit back and have a drink?