10 Ways to Reward Kids for Good Grades
April 10, 2012
Academic achievement is always worthy of a reward, and kids should know their efforts are appreciated. If you’re looking for some way to acknowledge your young scholar for a job well done, we’ve got some suggestions for you. Here are 10 ways to reward kids for good grades:
- Expand their freedoms. If they have a curfew, stretch it another 30 minutes to an hour. Let them stay up a little later than normal. Allow them to experience some of the independence that comes with success.
- Raise their allowance. As in the business world, achievements can be quite lucrative. By giving your child a little bump in pay, they can begin to learn that lesson early on (keep it reasonable or they might just perform you into a financial hole).
- Get them a cell phone if they don’t already have one, or an upgrade if they do – either a better phone, increased minutes, or texting privileges. Again, the lesson for your child is that when they produce, they earn additional trust and perks.
- Treat them to a special dessert after dinner, and let them choose it. It’s a special occasion and worthy of celebration. This sort of recognition is an excellent incentive for all your kids, by the way and won’t cost you too much to leave a lasting memory.
- Video Games – If you’ve been enforcing strict hours of usage on their video games, relax them for a while. Especially if you’ve been harping on them about how it affects their schoolwork, it’s time to show them that it works both ways.
- Internet – If you’ve been limiting your kid’s time online, allow him or her to spend some time apart from homework, surfing, or chatting with friends. Good grades show you that they have been doing their part. Now it’s time to do yours (but we would still recommend keeping decent controls on this so they don’t slip into bad habits).
- Movie Night – If you have a family movie night, let your child pick the flick for the evening, maybe even for the week. Let them have the TV remote for the evening for an optional form of reward, or choose the snacks for the family movie.
- Buy him or her a gift. It may be something that they have been working hard to earn all along, or something special you’ve thought up all on your own. Either way, it’s a great idea for telling your child that you’re proud of their accomplishments.
- Media – Some local TV and radio media let their viewers and listeners call in to announce events like birthdays and anniversaries. Why not send a congrats & thank you to your child and publicly acknowledge her efforts? At a minimum, kids actually do like it when you brag about them on FaceBook, Twitter, etc. (even though they may act embarrassed).
- Day Trip – Make arrangements to visit an amusement park, sporting event, museum, movie, whatever. Let your child pick the venue if you like. It will do wonders for his motivation; but most importantly, it will show him that his hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.
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Great ideas!
These are great ideas for positive reinforcement!
What great ideas! I always hear about parents giving kids money for making good grades but I never wanted to do that. I do want to acknowledge their hard work, though. Definitely using some of these!
We always take our kids out to the restaurant of their choice when they get good grades and then out for frozen yogurt. They love getting treated for their hard work!
fun! love this post and these ideas! will for sure be using!
i like the idea of a day trip to somewhere they’ve been wanting to go – that way you get quality time, they get to do something they’ve been wanting to do, and they are rewarded for their hard work. good idea!