Paying kids to read

[Anonymous]

I'm one of those people who pay my child to read.

I would assume that most of us who reach this point do so after we've done everything else. Reading the first chapter didn't encourage my child to continue the book. Alternating chapters (I read one, he reads one) meant he'd decide he didn't care about the book after all. I had some success requiring the book be read before the movie was seen, but there aren't enough movies made from books that he wants to see for me to feel comfortable about the amount of reading practice he's getting. I let him read any genre, we went through comic book stores, many book stores, etc. He loved listening to books on CD but reading was right out. Money made the difference, and has, over time, made reading less of a terrible proposition for him. He will now alternate chapters reading with me, continue reading a book on his own that we read together (we still read together nightly). He joined a book club at school. The monetary incentive support those changes.

I wouldn't jump to money as a first step. I doubt those of you who just had to find a good genre for your kid or get a suggestion from the librarian really get that there are some children who would really rather do anything at all versus read. Once in a fit of frustration I told my son he could either clean the bathroom or read a chapter in his book. He cleaned his bathroom. As someone who loves reading, I think I didn't really grasp how he felt about it until that moment.

[Anonymous]

My DS just started loving reading when he turned 9, completely out of nowhere. Now I can't get him to put don books - fiction and non-fiction. You could be right on the verge of him getting into it himself, but I think paying would have sabotaged my son.

[Anonymous]

This is a bad idea for many reasons:

Why Paying Kids to Do Homework Can Backfire
By Francine Russo Sept. 19, 2013

http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/19/why-paying-kids-to-do-homework-can-backfire/

[Anonymous]

My best advice is to integrate the dreaded chore into a daily routine, it will be less painful that way because more automatic. You may have to force him at first, and it might mean some battles. Power through them and it will get better (unless there's dyslexia or other learning disability underlying his lack of motivation). Wean him off incentives, because what you want is to instill a sense of inner satisfaction for completing the work.

In our experience incentives have never made DS develop a love of the subject. We have tried any incentive possible to motivate DS in math - money, outings, books (he's a bookworm), toys, etc. Every incentive worked for a couple of weeks, then fizzles out, so we just gave up and simply enforced math homework every day after school.

You can't twist someone's brain and make them like something that is intrinsically unpalatable to them.
What you can do is instill good work ethics.

[Anonymous]

I'm in the it's a bad idea camp. Besides, 8 is really young still. If they are still having trouble decoding, it may not be a pleasure yet. It could "click" later, but by pre-empting that with money means you'll never know. Also, when would you stop paying them to read? Middle school, high school? It's just a slippery slope.

The best way to get a kid to read is to have a family reading hour. OP, do you read? I think it's pretty disingenuous to want them to read if you don't. Studies show that kids are more apt to read when there are books in the house and they see their parents reading. So, all of you cuddle and read!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the it's a bad idea camp. Besides, 8 is really young still. If they are still having trouble decoding, it may not be a pleasure yet. It could "click" later, but by pre-empting that with money means you'll never know. Also, when would you stop paying them to read? Middle school, high school? It's just a slippery slope.

The best way to get a kid to read is to have a family reading hour. OP, do you read? I think it's pretty disingenuous to want them to read if you don't. Studies show that kids are more apt to read when there are books in the house and they see their parents reading. So, all of you cuddle and read!

OP here- yes, both DH and I are avid readers, although I read mostly on my Kindle these days. I wonder if seeing me reading on an e-reader is less effective than seeing me with an actual book. But, the kids see us read all the time. There are a lot of good points both for and against here. I haven't implemented this idea yet and I'll think it over carefully for the long term effects before I decide which way to go. Thanks for all the input.

[Anonymous]

Wow - I was hoping the "be a parent, not a friend" mentality was starting to go away but paying your child to do their required reading? Good lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow - I was hoping the "be a parent, not a friend" mentality was starting to go away but paying your child to do their required reading? Good lord.

I was hoping the "intimidate and bully" mentality was starting to go away but forcing your child to do their required reading? Good lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS just started loving reading when he turned 9, completely out of nowhere. Now I can't get him to put don books - fiction and non-fiction. You could be right on the verge of him getting into it himself, but I think paying would have sabotaged my son.

Not OP, but this is very encouraging. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[Anonymous]

I think that sometimes providing an extrinsic motivation for something a person has little intrinsic motivation to perform can be a useful thing.

I would never pay my child to read, because she is an avid, hungry, almost incessant reader. Introducing an extrinsic "reward" for reading would move her intrinsic focus. We don't even complete the "What I Read This Week" list for school, which I also feel would be a distraction for her.

BUT, I do reward my daughter for doing her homework, especially now practicing her spelling and handwriting (which she HATES to do). In her case, she earns TV time. I told her she can earn UNLIMITED TV time--it's just dependent on whether she does X to get 30 minutes of Y. Guess what? It works. She gets her practice in, she improves, the thing she's practicing gets less and less onerous as she gets better and better at it, she gets a boatload of praise for enduring and persevering with something that is challenging for her, and she earns TV, which is a major motivator. AND she doesn't watch hours and hours of TV. Maybe 4 hours total over the whole week. Win-win!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow - I was hoping the "be a parent, not a friend" mentality was starting to go away but paying your child to do their required reading? Good lord.

I was hoping the "intimidate and bully" mentality was starting to go away but forcing your child to do their required reading? Good lord.

Oh, sorry. I forgot parents backing the teachers up happened in past decades, not now.

Poor little Johnny doesn't want to read? Okay but how about I give you a dollar, or an ice-cream, or a new video game? Pretty please Johhny? No? Okay, I will just go complain to the teacher that it is too much for your. Go sick back in front of your iPad. Do you want something to drink? How about a foot rub?

[Anonymous]

^sit, not sick

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow - I was hoping the "be a parent, not a friend" mentality was starting to go away but paying your child to do their required reading? Good lord.

I was hoping the "intimidate and bully" mentality was starting to go away but forcing your child to do their required reading? Good lord.

Oh, sorry. I forgot parents backing the teachers up happened in past decades, not now.

Poor little Johnny doesn't want to read? Okay but how about I give you a dollar, or an ice-cream, or a new video game? Pretty please Johhny? No? Okay, I will just go complain to the teacher that it is too much for your. Go sick back in front of your iPad. Do you want something to drink? How about a foot rub?

LOL

[Anonymous]

Last year DD did her required reading and no more. She never read for pleasure. Over the summer two things flipped the switch so that she often picks up a book on her own now for long stretches and is much more into reading:
1) scholastic summer reading challenge - dd is competitive and loved the idea of trying to help her school win plus the incentive the school offered to the class with most minutes logged.
2) Dh told her that for every 500 minutes logged (lower target at first) she could watch a movie. She is a TV junky so liked this.

These seemed to have helped get her over the hump to get fluent enough to enough reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking about paying my 8 y/o DS to read daily, i.e. one dollar for every book finished with a half page book report written. I want to encourage him to read, improve his fluency, and to learn to read for pleasure. Right now, getting him to read becomes a power struggle and I'm wondering if an incentive (he loves money) would get him over the hurdle to finding how enjoyable reading can be. Anyone done something like this?

If you want him to read for pleasure...well let him read for pleasure. Paying him to read is the exact opposite of what you are trying to achieve. He will not all of a sudden decide to read tons of books for fun - he might decide to now read tons of books for fun but he will expect payment for it. And rightfully so, if this is the route you send him on. I have btw never heard of anyone doing this and find it very very weird.