Rewarding children for good marks (money and gadgets). Good or Bad idea?
November 27, 2020
Is it a good idea to reward your child with gadgets and money for getting good marks?
Generally, rewards or fun incentives for good behavior in children can encourage and promote that same good behavior to carry on in future, for example letting them have a sweet treat after finishing their meal which was filled with fresh vegetables. The downside is that this might lead to expectations whereby a child expects/demands to be given a sweet treat after every single meal. The question we want to explore is, can the same method be applied to grades?
There are inexpensive positive reinforcements that parents can use to promote good behavior in children especially from a young age such as clapping/cheering, giving hugs and high fives, but in reality, as kids grow older their wants and needs grow right alongside them. Children go from wanting ice cream as a reward one day, pizza on the next, and suddenly they’ll be asking for money or gadgets in exchange for working hard in school for getting A’s and B’s.
Although many parents may oppose this, research has shown that paying kids for good grades often DOES improve them. It can be a strong sense of motivation for learners to know that at the end of the term they’ll receive P100 for every A on their report card. However, the same article states that this can go either way and quotes Alfie Kohn, author of Punished by Rewards, saying “the bigger the reward, the more damage it does’ by encouraging students to focus on the goodies, not the learning. ‘The more you use cell phones, T-shirts, money or whatever, the more you undermine motivation for becoming engaged and prolific learners”.
Now here’s the twist that parents can apply, instead of giving them hard cash, let your child open their own savings account. A lot of children, especially around the preadolescent age and up, will find this fascinating as it will give them a sense of being responsible and that they’re maturing into young adults. Alternatively, parents can instill the spirit of giving in their children at this young age, by asking them to donate to the less fortunate or a charity or their choice.
Overall, this can still be a good idea because when the student gets paid by their parents, it presents another opportunity for the parent to teach them how to spend money – financial literacy.
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