Incentives Plan

When I was a young child I can remember I used to get pretty stickers when I took piano lessons. If I did really well during the lesson I would get an A double plus.

In this day and age, that type of incentive plan doesn't work on my kids. I can remember if S did well during the day or an incentive for a bathroom plan we would get her a Barbie. For J it was using a "hot wheel" car. Now that they are older, material rewards have changed. If S pulls all A's in a 9 week period then I'll buy her a shirt that she really wants (provided that I can do it that month, she's pretty understanding). I was thinking what can I do for J (within reason) to get him to "want" to study, and "want" to pull all A's? Knowing him he would want us to buy him a PSP game. But those games cost like 30 plus dollars. I suppose if we were to give him ten dollars per nine weeks, then he would earn the game himself. (Actually that would be cheaper than what we do for S). Hmm....maybe I should do that for S for her incentive plan. Then at the end of the year they could get what they wanted.

S is so geared to study every night and do well in class. S is an achiever. J is the opposite of S. I try to get him to study his spelling words or speech and he growls and speaks in a low voice. J is smart, but he thinks he knows it all. Believe me, he doesn't. It is frustrating, as a parent, to try to get him to work on spelling and speech in a joyful manner. I know that homework will gradually increase for next year. I guess maybe J is slow "getting out of the gate," when it comes to school. Maybe I won't have to worry about him within the year. We will see.