abiding learning is its own reward....

abiding learning is its own reward. on the other hand some kids respond best to cash.

Andrew Waller's grades soared when his parents started offering $5 for A's and $4 for B's. Now he put up withs about $25 each report card, saving it for video games and summer camp.

"I think I would still be getting proper grades, but this does help. I mean, it helps a lot" said Andrew, a 12-year-old from Mobile, Ala. "I think it's a great way to motivate me"

for a like reason you want an A, eh? Are you willing to pay?

As children reply to school, many parents are deciding what prize -- if any -- is appropriate to tender when kids get good grades. The stakes can gain pretty high.

Reagan Hawkins, a high drill teacher in Nederland, Texas, has had scholars tell him they will secure a new car for A's. Their parents downgrade the deal to a used car if they secure B's.

"It disappoints me honestly" Hawkins said. "I have knowledge of to instill a sense of intrinsic reward in the bookish mans I'd rather see a observer want to learn for the sake of learning than learn for the sake of a car."

Adults who promise riches gifts or privileges say their children consideration harder when incentives are onward the table. The lesson they sense of possible fulfilment to teach is that rewards require work.

The trick is making assured that students develop a natural have affection for of learning along the way. When the gift cards and iPods fare away, students had better be able to motivate themselves.

"It may be a little bit of bribery, if it were not that I'm sorry, I bribed my little common with M&Ms when we were doing potty training," said Dawn Waller, Andrew's mom and a former teacher.

"I think everyone ought to be rewarded when they're doing something well," she said. "For us, $5 [for A's] was just the amount we could afford."

She and her husband, David, say their regularity is working.

Andrew proudly shares his math homework. Kathryn, his 8-year-old sister, talks of becoming a scientist. flat their 4-year-old brother, John Martin, behaves better when he knows he'll close up with a toy from the dollar store.

Nationwide, parents reward A's in all kinds of ways.

Children earn trips to the bookstore, the bowling alley or the ice rink. They finish to stay up later, take a day facing from chores, or move a TV into their field Some get bragging rights, like having their report card displayed face and center on the fridge.

In Snellville, Ga., Marlyn Tillman refused to give her brace sons cash for A's. That was athwart the line. Instead she gave them stickers at young ages, then trips on the outside for ice cream.

through high school, she said, "We have no rewards. You're shaping your admit future at that point, and that absolutely is its confess reward. It's your job, and you're wait fored to do it."

Still, incentives be due [i]or[/i] owing into play at home. For each half hour her 13-year-old wants to part with playing video games, he must consume an hour reading -- and establish it with a book report.

In more [i]or[/i] less homes, the perks fade when the grades do.

near of Jessyca Tucker's students have had iPods taken away or been told they can't hurl "instant messages." It happened because they brought family circle C's or D's.

Tucker who teaches middle drill in Ramsey, N.J, likes to work with parents forward ways to help their kids improve. Ultimately, notwithstanding that parents set the rewards and punishments.

"It is a real-world practice," she said of awarding bonuses for superior work. "But if you start it at a young age, it can take away from the value of learning -- learning to become a more cultur living body someone who adds value to the world. It's a tough issue."

Reg Weaver used to gives his kids a dollar for each A. It's a personal choice, nothing immoral with that, said Weaver, president of the National Education Association. His affair is that some children take gifts for granted.

"I papal court little kids going into stores with solitary abode; squalid phones," he said. "You might say, 'I'll give you $5 for an A,' and the little kids will say, 'So?' They don't recognize in what way easy they have it. And as adults, we don't make it greatly better."

on the same level kid-friendly companies grant report card rewards. Krispy Kreme moves a free doughnut for each A (no more than six by student). Crown Theaters gives abroad two free movie tickets for straight A's (all B's is worth a medium popcorn). Sbarro not long ago offered kids a free pizza slice and a soda for profitable grades, if they said the unknown phrase: "A's and B's -- pizza please!"

The National PTA has no official position forward rewards for grades. But it gives parents tips from Virginia Shiller, a clinical psychologist and author of Rewards for Kids!

Shiller hints that rewards should be based forward weekly progress, not long-term report cards. That forces parents to pay more attention to for what cause their kids struggle and when they make small victories. The order ends up rewarding good consideration habits, not just good grades.

"You can focus upon the exchange of gifts and cash but it's really about the engagement," Shiller said.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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