My kid has a list of rewards each quarter. He only gets rewarded if there is no more than 1 B on the report card. $20 per A or a host of other choices...an R rated "banned" movie of his choice, a friend and a movie and dinner at the Alamo, mom mows the lawn 9xs and pays HIM as if he has done it ( this is his standing weekly chore for $10), 5 audible books, or 3 weekends where he can stay up as late as he wants with full reign of the house. If he closes out the entire year with all As as a final grade, then we will pau for him and a friend to go to a big concert (think Bruno Mars Imagine Dragons, etc)

He has NEVER picked the money. He has had me mow the lawn, which hebfinds hilarious and the no bedtime weekends.

With report cards coming up in 2 or so weeks, hes been checking his grades online a few times a week trying hard to pull 2 Bs up. Hes been staying after on Fridays foe keyboarding because this is his hardest class.

Im really trying to move things a bit more towards experiences and not money for them to blow on garbage.

Anonymous wrote:

Paying kids for anything, but ESPECIALLY grades, makes me cringe. I expect my children to do well in school and help around the house no matter what.

However my frail elderly MIL has paid all her grandchildren for top grades and finds joy in doing it for her last grandkids - my children - so we thank her and let her do it. My oldest couldn't care less about the money, and my youngest finds it fun, but truth be told, they would get top grades money or no money.

And we don't give them an allowance either. We discuss the family budget with them, what we save versus what we spend, and specifically the allocations to their activities... which for now is financial education enough.

Paying kids for anything, but ESPECIALLY grades, makes me cringe. I expect my children to do well in school and help around the house no matter what.

However my frail elderly MIL has paid all her grandchildren for top grades and finds joy in doing it for her last grandkids - my children - so we thank her and let her do it. My oldest couldn't care less about the money, and my youngest finds it fun, but truth be told, they would get top grades money or no money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I asked my dad about this once.

“If you get As, I’ll feed you. Bs. I’ll consider it. Everything else, you’re on your own.”

Paid for grades. SMH

Funny dad.

+1

This thread is making me ill. There are scores of studies that discuss what a bad idea this is.

My 7th grade son gets $25 per A and nothing for anything lower. He is graded three times per year. If he ever happened to get all As, he would get a bonus $25. That will never happen.

If DS makes honor roll, he gets $100, and if he makes high honor roll, he gets $200. We have trimesters, so we start new each trimester. I believe in motivation and rewards. It was the only thing that worked for me growing up (not punishments).

$2/A, $1/B; if he gets straight As, $100 - based on quarter grades, 6th grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about you teach your kids to be intrinsically motivated, and to experience the connection between working hard and doing well?
Ridiculous to pay a kid $500 for grades. WTH??

Doesn't basically every adult employed outside the home get financially rewarded for doing so? Many jobs also give performance bonuses. Nothe sure why this is such a strange concept.

NP.. because a tween is not an adult yet. There are basic expecatations in life for a tween... brush your teeth, make your bed, do your chores, study hard in school... If you want to make money, go mow the neighbor's lawn or, now that it's fall, rake their leaves. When it snows, shovel their snow. My 12 yr old DS does this. He also gets straight As, but I never pay him for it. He just likes getting good grades. It makes him feel good.

And I agree $500 for straight As for a tween seems incredibly excessive.

Anonymous wrote:How about you teach your kids to be intrinsically motivated, and to experience the connection between working hard and doing well?
Ridiculous to pay a kid $500 for grades. WTH??

Doesn't basically every adult employed outside the home get financially rewarded for doing so? Many jobs also give performance bonuses. Nothe sure why this is such a strange concept.

How about you teach your kids to be intrinsically motivated, and to experience the connection between working hard and doing well?
Ridiculous to pay a kid $500 for grades. WTH??

I know OP isn't asking about people who don't pay for grades, but I give rewards for effort, and that means I praise my kids and sometimes give money or stuff to them when they turn in all homework and study for all tests. I figure if they do all that, the grades will come out as they do.

One of my kids get straight As with this plan, the other gets mostly Bs, but he has ADHD and that is pretty good for him

As a middle school teacher, this is on of my frustrations. I've caught so many kids cheating this week (quarter ends next week), because they NEED whatever grades at the quarter, or they won't get $$$$/phone/whatever.

The difference between an 89.4 (B+) and an 89.5 (A-) should not be worth $$$$.

$2 per week allowance sounds low to me... it would take a month to afford to buy a movie ticket. I think the disconnect is probably in what each kid is responsible for covering, themselves. If parents pay for all expenses (clothes, movies, birthday gifts for his friends), then $2 is fine walking-around money. If the parent buys only basics and expects the kid to pay for the above, the kid probably needs more than $2 per week.

Jeez maybe I’m out of touch but $500 seems outrageous. My 13 yr old gets $2 a week for allowance (does chores) and he simply looses his phone if he gets below a B until he gets it back up... this goes throughout the year not just report cards, however if he is truest making a huge effort, we will be flexible.