I confess, I've resorted to bribing my children

I try very hard not to bribe my children.  I believe that in most cases there are more effective ways to get them to behave/preform in the desired manner.  Part of me would like to say I'm rewarding them, not bribing them.  Maybe that is true.  At this point, I'm willing to call it bribing and willing to own it.

Charlotte and Rehm enjoy playing sports but they are not motivated to do their best.  They don't love playing sports they just sorta, kinda like it.  Both of them always want to play a sport, I'm not forcing them to play.  But they just don't try very hard.

I really noticed this with Charlotte's hitting this season.  She was not hitting nearly as well as she had in the Spring season.  She would get up to bat and just kind of wave the bat at the ball, but with no real expectation of hitting it nor any real desire to hit it.  It drove me crazy!

She wants a digital camera and is currently saving money to buy one.  I told her that for any fair hit she got in a game I would give her a dollar toward the cost of the camera.  She has gotten at least one hit in every game since then!  Now when she gets up to bat, she actually looks like she cares and tries much harder.  It is working.

Of course Rehm heard about this deal and wanted in on it.  So we are now paying him a dollar per hit toward the 3DS he is saving up for.  He actually has to get on base to get payment.

Since starting this it has cost us $8.  I figure we have about 10 more games in the season so it should cost at most $20 more.  Given the amount of time and energy we are already spending on them playing sports I think it is worth it for now.  I have warned them that over time what they get rewarded for will change.

I wrote the above post prior to last weekend's tournament.  I have now spent more that $8 and have added a new layer to the bribe.  Each child can now earn additional funds(no more than $2 extra) each game, at parent discretion, for such things as sportsmanship, encouraging team mates and hustling. Since instituting this Rehm is definitely moving much faster on and off the field.  The slow paced meander both of my children are prone to drives me absolutely batty. 

Jenn

PS. all pictures in this post were taken through the fence and from considerable distance so please excuse the quality.