“Your exams are knocking on the door. Study hard! If you score good marks, you are going to get what you asked for! “

This is what we have heard many parents saying to their kids. Rewarding the kids for their effort and doing well in whatever they do is important. Well, it seems easy to reward kids and make them do their work properly. Sometimes we also reward them to enforce good behavior within them. It is good to reward them for their good behavior and to also make them understand what is wrong and what is right.

But can we use money as a reward? According to some experts, it is OK until some extant, but not always. Rewarding our kids with money has both positive and negative effects on them.

Money as a reward has a positive impact.

Children are given money for certain actions performed by them, like scoring well in exams, helping others, or even for some good behaviour. When children are given money, they learn to:

Manage money.

Children are good observers. They keep seeing their parents’ how they keep their money safely and use it whenever they need it. Children also love to store their money in piggy banks and take it out when they require it. Parents can help them understand how to manage money and how to use it judiciously.

Money’s worth

They would know the value of money. As they see daily, in and out, how their parents purchase things with money, they would also know to use it diligently. A concept of saving can be built up in them with money.

Mind Calculation

Addition and subtraction might seem to be boring for some kids, but the moment they come to know how they are using such concepts in their real life, they would like to learn more about them. They would learn how to add each and every penny to keep track of how much money they have, as well as how to subtract when they bought something with that money.

With all the above advantages, there are many disadvantages to money too.

manipulating people.

Money not only acts as a reward, but it can also increase greed. Children who have money with them know that they can purchase whatever they like with money. During their childhood they would buy chocolates, snacks, or toys and be happy with them. Slowly, they can manipulate parents to get more money for whatever work they would do.

development of bad habits.

When kids are small, we can keep an eye on them. But when they grow up, it’s very hard for parents to keep a record of them every now and then. This is the time when kids can go out of control. They can come close to the bad guys because of money and might indulge in some restricted activities.

Conclusion

We all enjoy seeing our children learn good behavior and perform well in school. We also love to reward them for every good thing they do. But rather than using money as a reward, we can reward them with something which can increase their knowledge, like taking them for an outing or on a trip, or preparing something for them which they would love to eat, or even showing them a good movie. Rewarding them should help them to understand their intrinsic value rather than focus on outward material things.