Discussing grades is a common argument between most parents and their children. As parents, we all want our children to strive hard in school so that they can get good grades. However, some children do not put in the effort to study, especially more challenging subjects such as physics, and this can lower their grades.
You might have thought of rewarding your child to motivate them to study and get good grades. But does it really work, or is it a form of bribery? Before giving anything to them, it is best to understand if rewarding them for getting good grades is appropriate or not.
Why You Should Reward Your Kid
The major benefit of rewarding your child when they get good grades is that it motivates them to do better next time. Consequently, your child will put in more effort to complete their homework and study for their exams.
In most cases, some children are smart enough to excel in their class, but they do not have the motivation to do their tasks. Rewarding them when they pass their test scores or grades can be an effective way to make them do their best in school.
Disadvantages of Rewarding Your Kid
Though the advantage may look promising, rewarding might only be effective in the beginning. That is because your child might expect a reward for getting good grades. Therefore, they might only do their best if you hand them a reward each time they do this.
You might not see significant effects in their overall grades for children who have difficulty organizing and understanding new concepts. They do not learn the skills they need to get good grades such as utilizing studying methods and proper time management.
Also, children from rich families or those who regularly get money might not exert the effort needed to get good grades.
Proper Reward for Kids
The gift or amount of money you give for good grades is entirely up to you. Most experts suggest decreasing amount and having the highest value for the best scores. If you decide to reward your child, you can reward them depending on the acceptable grades you agreed on.
You can also agree on a gift if your child gets good grades in all their subjects. Before rewarding your child, try discussing it with them first. You can ask them what reward would be fair and will motivate them to do better.
Rewarding Options
Aside from giving money, there are other ways to motivate your child to work towards getting good grades. If they did well in a test or essay, give them a high-five or praise them so that they feel inspired to do well the next time.
Moreover, you can also go out for a meal or take them out to do activities that they enjoy and make them feel accomplished. Instead of giving toys or cash as rewards, going out on a fun family adventure can give children a good perspective about life. Better yet, they can also have meaningful memories compared to getting a new toy.
Another way to reward and celebrate your child’s accomplishments is to commend them for finishing a school year and acknowledging their hard work instead of focusing on grades only.
You can also make your child feel more inspired by providing additional help from a tutor. Not only does a tutor help your child progress better with their schoolwork but they can also help to keep them motivated.
Using a Personalized Approach
It is important to consider what your child needs to perform better in school. There is no specific way to determine this since it depends on the strengths of a child. When parents are too focused on grades, these strengths might not be developed.
If your child struggles with procrastination, you can reward them if they complete tasks ahead of time. This is a good approach since your child will discover the process of learning instead of focusing too much on getting good grades.
According to research, it has been discovered that focusing more on efforts instead of grades can make children more persistent and confident in accomplishing tasks such as academic subjects.
Therefore, they can learn and perform better. It is good to think of what you particularly want your child to accomplish in school and then use it to motivate them to perform well in school.
You can decide if you want your child to get better grades or have values in working towards getting good grades. For instance, do you want them to understand the importance of education and having a good work ethic? If so, speak to them about this and help them achieve this goal, and reward them if they do better.
Giving rewards can also be used to deal with bad behavior and encourage new behavior. Always find the right strategy for the reward that will produce better results and not deteriorate the situation.
How to Reinforce Good Grades in Your Child Using Rewards
To reinforce your child to get good grades, you first need to know what factors affect their grades. Maybe, your child does not complete their homework or they have a hard time comprehending the material. When you determine the problem, you can decide on how frequent your reward will be.
Rewards work well when given in increments. For instance, when a child completes their homework in a week, you can allow them to visit a place they like. For younger children, rewards should be done more often and the amount of the reward should be appropriate for the behavior. However, giving rewards in increments should not be too much.
Rewarding and Bribery
If you are like most parents, you are probably concerned that rewarding your child is more like bribing them. Well, this can be true if rewarding is not done properly. Nevertheless, Bribery is not the same as rewarding since the bribe is given before the wanted outcome.
As for rewards, they are given to celebrate an accomplishment or goal. Reinforcement through rewards should be a solution and not merely a gift.
Conclusion
Finally, rewards can be helpful if done right. As we have seen, there are numerous ways to reward your child if they get good grades and motivate them to perform better next time. Whatever reward you opt for, you have to keep in mind that there should be a goal and rewarding is not a long-term solution.
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