re: Paying your kids for good grades

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It's like paying someone not to piss on the toilet seat.

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Eventually every toilet seat will get pissed on, and someone is going to pay to clean it up.

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We don't pay people money for doing what they ought to do

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Who are you to determine what other peoples' children ought to do in school?

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for observing and complying with the social contract that makes society work

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We're talking about a kid making an A vs a C, not the social contract. Even so, if I put in the time and effort to be a decent citizen I'd expect to be paid back with your time and effort.

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that's not learning the value of money

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You as the parent still have to connect the dots from effort->money->saving->purchases.

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that's not a value add over and above the baseline

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Is your baseline straight A's?

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I suspect most of the kids that got As probably would have gotten As anyway or would have gotten As if not getting good grades, or making the requisite effort to get As resulted in a loss of privileges.

My kids aren't exhorted to get good grades or paid for good grades, they are told to put in their best effort and if they don't they lose privileges.

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Some kids respond to negative reinforcement, some respond to positive reinforcement. You as the parent have to know your kids and know yourself.