Is it wrong to bribe your kids?

I've touched on this briefly, however a continuous theme on my son's report cards is "extremely bright, lacks motivation".  We had a few years of self confidence and maturity issues and perhaps I was somewhat lax in my attention to his schoolwork in lieu of trying to build up his self esteem.  My thinking was if your child is confident and comfortable in their own skin, everything else falls into place. Well the self esteem is now great, the bullying is a thing of the past...success right?

So it was a bit of a shock to realise at the end of grade 6 that I was advised if my son's schooling 'habits' continued on in the same vein that he could really struggle in high school. Teachers were frustrated with him because he was obviously really intelligent but just couldn't be arsed doing the work. Hard to grade a kid when he finishes practically none of it.

Over the Christmas break we did a lot of talking and I decided to take an alternative tack. Punishments didn't work, withholding dessert didn't work, so instead I decided on bribery.

Yes, bribery.

$10 for every A, payable upon receipt of report card every six months.

His grandparents caught wind and decided to double the offer, so now there is $20 per A.

Some people when hearing of my bribe have been horrified that I would be offering monetary compensation for good marks. And I totally get it.

I stole the idea from a former boss who was bribing encouraging her children to be better achievers by offering them $100 per A for years 11 and 12. When she told me I must admit I thought it was really, really wrong. But as she explained to me, straight A's continuously over 2 years paid every six months = $2,000. Maximum. And if her kids graduated with those kind of marks, their future was wide open. Not a bad investment for $2,000.

When you say it like that it makes total sense!

I decided I would use the same tactics in high school, but never imagined I'd have to use it this early on...

Anyway the outcome of this is for the first time Elijah is taking a genuine interest and pride in his work. He's motivated and happy and keeps bragging that he's one of the top of the class for this or that...

So I'm completely happy with my decision to openly bribe for good marks. E's now on track to get at least a few A's, and mentions at least once a week that he's got his eye on the prize...yes he means prize literally as $20 to an almost-12 year old still seems like a fortune.

What's your take on bribing your kids? Do you think I'm going to hell in a handbasket or if it works, why not?

xx