Ayron's side of the family (mostly the guys and 2 of his nieces) are obsessed with ice fishing. I don't understand the appeal. Who wants to go out in the cold and sit on the frozen (aka: COLD) lake to fish?
A group of them are getting ready to go to southern Indiana to fish for a couple of days. One of the guys going is a "semi professional" fisherman with three hyper active boys! They have decided to let the boys go on the trip since their behavior at home as been improving. They are allowing my oldest niece to go because she made the honor roll.
When I was told this last night I made the mistake of speaking like an educator, "Oh that's smart, 'You did so well in school we are going to let you skip!'" My mother in law didn't like my comment.
Am I wrong in thinking that their justification for taking her on the trip is a bit screwy since they will be pulling her out of school? Maybe it is my educator mentality. Take her over a weekend, but not during the school week!
I never got rewarded for making the honor roll. In my house decent grades were expected. Sure I got verbal praise, but never anything tangible. I don't understand why parents give their children money for good grades. Then their child will expect to always be rewarded with something of monetary value. What about your child seeking praises from you instead of cash from your wallet? When did, "Good job son we are so proud of you!" (and hanging the report card on the fridge for all to see) become not enough?
Is my thinking screwed up? I am curious to see what Todd thinks!
3 comments:
My 2 cents is that if your niece was working her butt off to make the honor roll at school I personally don’t see any harm in rewarding her. Most likely she didn’t know she was going to get to go on the trip when she was slaving over her homework, so this just might be her parents saying to her, ‘we recognize that you worked really hard and want to acknowledge your hard work’. I agree that rewards shouldn’t be EXPECTED for things like this, but see no harm in an occasional incentive. As for taking her out of school to reward her-if she doesn’t fall behind then where is the foul? If she does then they’ll know better for next time.
There are studies (and of course I don't have any references on hand) that say that every day in school--especially elementary school--it's pretty critical for a kid to be there if at all possible.
So yeah, I think it's kinda weird to take a kid out of school, especially for something like an ice fishing trip. But I guess we all value different things. *shrug*
I liked Kelly's thought that if this trip was a reward for good grades, and not an incentive, then it's probably ok. I don't necessarily think kids need to get paid to get good grades though. That's horse-hockey.
And taking her out of school is stupid. Why didn't they take this trip two weeks ago when she was on break?
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