Monday, March 9

Does giving incentives to your kids still works ?

Do you still believed that giving incentives to your kids works ? Parents tend to give incentives to their children if they want them to perform well, that might be at home, in school or any other activities. But incentives does not always works with kids right ? I wonder what parents usually do if this thing does not work ?

I have made a deal with my niece, a grade 5 student that if she grab the top 4 of her class, she will received a gift from me. Some sort of incentives for all her hard work. She is a very good student, always been part of the top 10 students of her class but never made it to the top 5. She is smart, but sometimes too lazy to study, so I challenged her to do better this time.

So here we go !!! It's almost graduation time and I heard from her Mom (who is my sister) that she is really working hard on all her exams. For the last three grading, she made it to the top 4 of her class, now it's the final grading and evaluation of over all standing of students. She really is putting extra effort to get that incentives. I think she wants to proved to me as well that she can do it !!! Go girl !

Now, this kind of trick works with an almost teenager. But how about in a toddler like Gabz ? I have tried it a couple of times but it looks like it has no effect on her. For instance, I would asked her to eat and after that she could watch or play any games she wants. If she does not want to eat, everything I say fall on deaf ears, but after a while she would start bugging me to play or watch something, as if I did not say anything. No matter how I tried to blackmail or bribe (you can use any term you want) her, seems not working. She is a picky eater and sometimes I ran out of ideas how to feed her.

On the other hand, this trick works with her to clean up her toys if she wants to play in my computer. So I guess, it all depends on how much they wanted certain things. A little incentives, bribes from time to time does really works. Right Moms ?

But in times where incentives does not work, what do you do ?

5 comments:

The Mother said...

Incentives absolutely never worked for me. The kids who cared about something did it anyway. The kids who didn't, it didn't matter what the reward was, they weren't going to do it.

The real downside is that the kids who do want to, rack up so much, that you end up reneging on the deal.

Marj and Carlos said...

I think incentives work. In our case, we tell Rachel that we'd turn off her Dora DVD if she doesn't eat and sure enough her mouth opens as your finger approaches the pause button.

Anonymous said...

nag wowork pa rin ang incentives sa bahay, coz lalo nagaaral ng mabuti mga siblings ko. In my case naman, si IƱigo, di ako maxado nagppromise ng mga material things. More sa if mag-behave we're gonna go swimming.. or we'll fly kite, etc.

Unknown said...

All kids are different..what may work for one will not work for another.
It is a real tried & true experience when it comes to child rearing.
With some reasoning is always your bets bet then others it is all about the art of intimidation.

Parenting is the most thankless job until those little darlings become parents themselves or are responsible for younger siblings.
It is when you hear them repeat your law & order does it really pay off.

Just stay consistent and aware!
DorothyL

Anonymous said...

The type of incentive and the character of the kid would determine whether if would work. With my 5yr old we tried a monetary rewards scheme to get him interested in practicing his piano daily, eat dinner faster, clean up after himself. It did work and was 80% successful. Am Working on a more complex - credit card system which can be applicable to kids of any ages at the moment.