What do you think about this punishment for bad grades?

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:

I tried that.. Hammie wasnt having it... i'll get the stiches out in 7 days....

you poor thing. Maybe if you picked a prettier color than green?

 

[welsummerchicks]

I wouldn't do that but if they feel it would work for their son I have no problem with them doing that.

I probably would have refused to take the kid to something he wanted to attend.

But I think that the rules should be clear BEFORE the bad grade pops up.

And I think I would really try to do something about it earlier.

And I don't want to publicly humiliate my kid, I think that would just make the kid angry and more stubborn about doing his work.

I think that kid, I might have made him volunteer at a homeless shelter, and then talked about how the people got there, and how doing well in school can keep your life from taking a bad turn.

But that family looked like they didn't have much and lived in a tough area. I'd want to counter-act all the negative messages my kid got all day from angry, hopeless, bitter people, about how life is short and who cares what happens to you. I might get him a job working for a lawyer, doctor or college professor, and make sure he saw some other part of the world, some other aspect of life.

Most of my friends had an 'arrangement' when it came to grades. As long as the kid keeps a B in each class, every weekend, he can go out with his friends. Grades below B? No going out with his friends.

But it wasn't something they beat into the kid or started worrying about when they were teens. They put their kids in activities from the time they were babies, where people were constantly telling the kid, 'WOW this kid is smart'.

Some parents have luck with an arrangement like, 'You keep all your grades up, I'll buy you your own car when you graduate', or something like that.

It might be hard for kids, even very smart sounding kids, to keep in mind a long distant reward, because they just aren't that mature. A friend of mine used to put money in a fund every time the kid got an acceptable report card - another paid into a savings account every week the kid did his chores and homework.

A friend of mine told when his boy's grades were turning into a struggle to maintain, he let his son stay with a friend's family for the weekend. The kid came back and said the visit was horrible. It was boring, the house was crowded and run down, people were bickering. The family had no money for games, videos or cable. The yard was tiny and you couldn't just go out and walk down the street.

When the kid came home, he talked to the kid about it and he told him, that it was up to him how he wanted to live as an adult. He could work hard in school, get good grades, and learn a good trade or profession. He said he would support him in learning any trade or profession he would choose to do, but it needed to be something that was practical and would make him a decent living. Or, he could go on like he was doing, and wind up living a life like his friend's family.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Quote:
This would not work with the Kinder Major. The wife and I spent so much time and effort trying to make sure she would like to read that we overshot the mark. Now she'd LOVE it if all she got to do was lay in her bed reading a book and taking care of her birds.

"Put the book down and come to supper."
"Put the book down and get your bath."
"Put the book down and get ready for school."
"Put the book down and..."

 

[farmerlor]

Sorry, I think the "punishment" should fit the crime. Standing on a street corner with a sign isn't doing a thing to fix the problem.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

My parent's punishment for bad grades (and alot of other things for that matter) was something we would learn from. When we were young we had to copy pages out of the dictionary as we got older it was pages out of the encyclopedia!! When we got really bad we got to hold books out on our arms. And there is nothing like a day of hard manual labor to clear your mind!!

Humiliation is not the answer - hard work would be better.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

A.T. Hagan :

Quote:
This would not work with the Kinder Major. The wife and I spent so much time and effort trying to make sure she would like to read that we overshot the mark. Now she'd LOVE it if all she got to do was lay in her bed reading a book and taking care of her birds.

"Put the book down and come to supper."
"Put the book down and get your bath."
"Put the book down and get ready for school."
"Put the book down and..."

Yeah, same here A.T., I guess being sent to their room to read isn't much of a punishment. But At least the like to read!

Now if I could just figure out what a Justin Beaver is....

 

[classicsredone]

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As a parent, I'm with you. As a high-school student, I was getting crummy grades. My dad made me do things like dig ditches, mix paint, etc. His thinking was that it would teach me that the more schooling I get, the less labor I'll have to do. He was right in that. However, the punishment really didn't fit into WHY I was getting crummy grades. At the time I had HORRIBLE migraines every day. (I just recently found a doctor that helped me figure out that it was caused overly-tight neck muscles, and having to look down at the desk all day. Looking down tightens up the neck, irritating the nerve and causing headaches...but I digress.) Anyways, at the time it would have been more fitting to get me tutoring and a better doctor than to make me dig ditches for irrigation. I eventually transferred to a continuation school and did great. I got plenty of hands-on, one-on-one teaching time, and I got out of school earlier in the day before the headaches kicked in.

A lot of the time, there is something behind the reason for why the kid is failing. They aren't challenged enough, they don't learn well with the method the teacher uses, they need more one-on-one teaching time, etc. With my mom and sisters being teachers, I don't think I'd go this route. Without knowing the kid, I can't really say if the punishment was fitting, though.

 

[Moonkssd]

I just cant believe she got a teenager to stand out there with that sign. When my children were teens i couldn't get some of them to do anything and standing on the street corner with a sign would not have happen. I'm just happy all of those days are behind me now. I do miss them when they were little but you can have the teen age years. I love being a grandparent. I should have done that first!

 

[EmtheFishLady]

Quote:

I tried that.. Hammie wasnt having it... i'll get the stiches out in 7 days....

you poor thing. Maybe if you picked a prettier color than green?

There isn't a prettier color than green.


From what I gather the kid was refusing to take the Fcat? If so then, humiliate him. He obviously thought he was going to be a bad*ss...he isn't so bad now.


If it was a problem with him not knowing the questions, then give the kid one on one teaching.

My parents always just busted our *sses when we were doing badly. It wasn't a problem with us knowing the stuff though, it was a problem with us being lazy.

 

[sourland]

There is no prettier color than green!