Money for Report Cards

[NMAmy]

We never rewarded dd with money but we did reward her with books. I started this when she was in kindergarten--for each good grade, she got to choose a book at the bookstore. We were rewarding her hard work with something that will continue to encourage her to learn.

We went through a brief stage in middle school when she tried to get me to switch to cash but now she's a high school senior and she'll call me when she gets the report card to tell me her grades and calculate how many books she's earned. I have a feeling I'll still be doing this in college.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Maybe you should send DD's teacher a note and ask if you can come and grade he/she on their performance and if you feel a good job is done you might give the reward of letting he/she continue to teach your child..

Or you could tell the teacher to mind their own business which is what I would do!!!!

Oy, that's not the way to get the best performance out of a teacher!

Not unless you want to guarantee your kid has a terrible year. I'm a BIG fan of really, really trying to work with teachers instead of putting them on the spot. All but the true burnouts have been manageable.

Here's my bad mommy moment-the true burnout teacher that I really detested, well, she sent home a letter complaining about my older DD (who was in kindergarten at the time.) It was this astonishing litany of "issues" that she felt my kid had, some very personal opinions about my and my husband's parenting skills, and some really out there social views. It was also full of misspellings and poor grammar.

So, I pulled out my red editor's pen, my best friend EB White (who also wrote Charlotte's Web, didja know that?), and proceeded to red pen every.little.mistake. on that stupid letter. Then I sent a copy to the headmaster of the lower school (this was back when I had our kids in private school), and a copy back to the teacher, with a request with the headmaster to meet.

You can guess how much fun that meeting was.

Other than that one incident, I'm a hee-yooge fan of teachers. Anyone who can teach my kids and not burst out crying some days is a hero!

Ok, sorry, we now return you to your regularly scheduled topic...

 

[dbmarie]

We never rewarded dd with money but we did reward her with books. I started this when she was in kindergarten--for each good grade, she got to choose a book at the bookstore. We were rewarding her hard work with something that will continue to encourage her to learn.

This sounds like a very good idea. Thank you .

Not unless you want to guarantee your kid has a terrible year. I'm a BIG fan of really, really trying to work with teachers instead of putting them on the spot.

We really try hard to work with our dd teachers and the school. I feel like her teacher really cares about all of the kids she teaches and overall she does a really good job I think we are just disagreeing on this point. I don't think she meant it as a personal attack more of a I think this maybe a better way of doing it.

 

[2disneyboys]

sort of OT... I had to laugh last week at my ds8. We were getting the boys' hair cut and ds8 was looking thru the book of haircut styles. he points to a picture with a boy with the tips of his crew cut colored green or some color like that. He says, mommy, can I get my hair like this? I'm like NO, (freaking a little cuz I was surpised at 8 he would even be caring about styles etc), your school requires your hair be a particular style and coloring is not allowed. He was like, ok, but was bummed out. After he was done and we were leaving, he started gripping about his science project and so & so's mommy does his projects for him (I observe and assist, but ds does his OWN projects as hard as it is for the control freak parent I am to not step in & make it perfect fast) I thought for a moment and all I could think of was this thread and motivation. long story short, I told him if kept doing his homework without problems, and continued the rest of the year on A Honor Roll for the summer, he could get the tips of his hair colored. he is through the roof!. Came straight home, did his project (been procrastanting about it for over a week) and all of last week and so far this week, he has been doing his homework without me having to remind him or stand over him. He did mark on the calender the "day" he can get his hair colored and understands if he does not keep up the A honor role he does not get it. I'm still cringing about the thought of my little boy having colored hair, but whats a few weeks in the summer with green or blue tips on his hair for him to apply himself to a project?

The point? Everyone has different motivations. and for someone the motivations can change depending on what's important to them at the time. As an adult, part of my job is to continue to develop plans to motivate the ADULTs we employ. We pay them to come to work. we pay them all sorts of benefits etc. Yet, we recoginize that there is another level of motivation that has to be met for those people to push past the "acceptable" level to the outstanding level. You live with your kids. you know what excites them and was does not excite them. Use that to your advantge. either it be money, toys, outings, dinners, items. whatever. motivation is not just limited to children. I am one of the parents who does not pay her child for basic functions.. comes with being part of a family. But when I want them to do a special project, or I see them do something they don't normally have to do without me having to tell them, I acknowledge it and it's rewarded. Sometimes its just praise sometimes its money or a special trip. whatever. some kids like this type of feedback. Others need a specific guideline.. you do this, you get that. You don't do this your dont get that. You have to go with with feels right in your gut. Good Luck.