Uh oh, my child bribery might be backfiring

[Kelemvor]

Definitely use the Recommended Age to your benefit here. Also be sure he knows that if at any time in the future he loses another block, it gets taken back and he doesn't get it again until he goes another week without losing any blocks.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Maybe your son will become a lawyer - causes a ton of trouble, and when he gets an agreement, he'll make sure he gets all of his payment

 

[Jahee]

Originally posted by: Winchester

Originally posted by: AnyMal
Well, since you set the bar so low, you're bound to be out of $$$ plus he'll return to misbehaving next week. Been there, done that. You'll need to take more drastic measures like taking some of the privileges he enjoys for an extended period of time, at least it worked for my fifth grader when I took his video games away for two months.

You need to teach him the concept of actions and consequences, but most importantly, as others said, stick to your guns. Remember, you are not his friend, you are his DAD.

If only the parents of today would concentrate on being parents instead of being friends to their kid.

My dad always told me "Im not your friend, Im not your partner (from Texas), IM YOUR DAD!"

Yeah my dad used to always say this to me too... I 100% support that.

 

[Homerboy]

My dad always told me "Im not your friend, Im not your partner (from Texas), IM YOUR DAD!"

Yeah my dad used to always say this to me too... I 100% support that.

I certainly consider my son my buddy and vice versa. However I also know when and how to lay down the law. There is a line and he is well aware of it, even at age 5. There is a happy medium between the two.

 

[TheTony]

You realize that set is recommended for age 16+, right?

If you want something closer to his age, how about Lego mindstorm. Save $20 :laugh:

 

[userman]

WOW,
My parents would have spanked my @ss I did that. Not bribe me.

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: TheTony
You realize that set is recommended for age 16+, right?

If you want something closer to his age, how about Lego mindstorm. Save $20 :laugh:

ok that makes no sense
the Death Star is 16+ and a complicated robotic set is 10+
the DS is only 16+ because its HUGE. There is no technical reason that a 6yr old couldn't do it except for maybe patience. Now a kindergarten kid building and programming robots? Commmon.

 

[theknight571]

I would just act surprised when you see the price in the store, and then change the conditions to:

Made it one week so far: Cheaper toy ($20 or less for sake of arguement)
Make it a month: Death Star

But like was mentioned before... be prepared to take it away.

Also.. I would verify with the teacher that he actually made it the entire week without losing a block... my son had me fooled for awhile... then I got the teacher's email address and found out the truth (he was losing a card or two each day*)... and he wonders why I question him everytime... lol

* At the school my son goes to they have a similar setup to the OP's block system. It consists of Green, Yellow and Red cards. The goal being to be "Green" all day.

 

[herm0016]

wooden spoon, belt, back of hand.... oh memories... lol. rewards only work for good things, not for not doing bad things. over and above good behavior= reward of some small type, at least a thankyou and a good converstaion. bad thing = punishment

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: herm0016
wooden spoon, belt, back of hand.... oh memories... lol. rewards only work for good things, not for not doing bad things. over and above good behavior= reward of some small type, at least a thankyou and a good converstaion. bad thing = punishment

punishment brings up bad mojo for some people. it's now called negative reinforcement and i think it's disgusting to dress it up

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: herm0016
wooden spoon, belt, back of hand.... oh memories... lol. rewards only work for good things, not for not doing bad things. over and above good behavior= reward of some small type, at least a thankyou and a good converstaion. bad thing = punishment

The sound of it running through the loops was quite ominous... As a kid though, you learned to fake cry early in a spankin' so they stop sooner .

 

[robphelan]

Originally posted by: Krazy4Real
LMAO! You're gonna get pwned by your kid. It's amazing what kids are capable of when they really want something. Good luck! Next time limit the dollar amount.

 

[Qwest]

Not doubting your kid's honesty...but how do you know he hasnt lost a single block? He could lose 2 blocks everyday, not get a note home, and still get a lego star wars set.

 

[AMCRambler]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
That death star doens't even seem very fun. its just a bunch of support beams

Show him an X-Wing fighter Lego set and he'll change his mind. Death Star = teh lame! Legos are friggin expensive though. No doubt about it.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2305552&cp

It's still $50 bucks, but better then $270. Also this one is for 7 and up. So you can help him put it together.

 

[Jeraden]

Originally posted by: Qwest
Not doubting your kid's honesty...but how do you know he hasnt lost a single block? He could lose 2 blocks everyday, not get a note home, and still get a lego star wars set.

I already told him I'm going to talk to the teacher at the end of the week and make sure he's being honest. If I find out he's been lying to me then he's in deep trouble. He's better off just telling me he lost one, he won't get in trouble. But if he doesn't tell me, he's going to really disappoint me and cause himself a lot of problems.
He seemed to understand that though and still insists the past 2 days were clean.

 

[Kur]

Do this, buy it but only give him 1 color of lego's, each week he does good he get's a different color but also hold the instructions as bait too, rip the instructions per page and each week he gets a page lol.

 

[TheTony]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: TheTony
You realize that set is recommended for age 16+, right?

If you want something closer to his age, how about Lego mindstorm. Save $20 :laugh:

ok that makes no sense
the Death Star is 16+ and a complicated robotic set is 10+
the DS is only 16+ because its HUGE. There is no technical reason that a 6yr old couldn't do it except for maybe patience. Now a kindergarten kid building and programming robots? Commmon.

I didn't create the age recommendations.

The primary IDE for the NXT mindstorms is drag-and-drop. I'd assume most children can handle that.

Not that I'm saying it's appropriate. But probably moreso than the Death Star, and ought to be something he'd get more use out of. And I'm also not saying using bribes is the way to go, either. Was kidding (thus the laugh).

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
That death star doens't even seem very fun. its just a bunch of support beams

The Death Star is cool and all, but that's one of the worst Lego toys I've ever seen.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Zysoclaplem
You are probably out $270, and he is back to being himself next week.

 

[OutHouse]

Get this instead. Lego Star Wars Classic TIE Interceptor. ONLY 20 bucks.

 

[Shyatic]

Why not tell your kid to stop losing blocks or you'll beat the cr4p out of him?

That's what my mom woulda done I'm fine now... <twitch>

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: Kur
Do this, buy it but only give him 1 color of lego's, each week he does good he get's a different color but also hold the instructions as bait too, rip the instructions per page and each week he gets a page lol.

please scan them and dont tear them off

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: Jeraden
So my son has been behaving pretty badly in school recently (Kindergarten). He's had notes sent home repeatedly that he's talking in class and not paying attention. So, in an effort to get him to try to be good, I resorted to bribery. They have this reward system at school where they start off the day with 3 blocks on their desk. Everytime they do something bad, the teacher takes a block away. If they lose all 3 blocks, the teacher sends a note home. So if I'm getting notes every couple days, he's losing a TON of blocks.
So I made a deal with him. He's really into lego star wars right now. I told him if he can go an entire week without losing a single block (which to me seemed like an almost impossible feat since he always loses at least one, usually all 3), I'd buy him any Lego Star Wars toy he wants at Toys R Us.
He tells me last night that he hasn't lost a single block yet (monday or tuesday) and he's looking forward to getting the Lego Death Star. Well, just now I decided to look up exactly what the Lego Death Star is.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2402637&cp
OMG! 269.99!!!!
I'm praying he misbehaves this week! Or at the very minimum that Toys R Us doesn't actually carry that item in the store! (I told him it was only good for in-store items, as I remember someone posting about a Lego Millenium Falcon a while back that was $500 and I didn't want him to try to get that one). But didn't realize they had $270 lego star wars items at Toys R Us.

EEK!!!!

Meh, its legos though right? What age group is the lego deathstar for? I think giving your kid legos may benefit him more than you think.. I remember when I was 8 and I attempted to assemble the lego space shuttle meant for 16 year olds, felt really disappointed when I failed to complete it because of a lack of too many peices..

Was it this? Dunno....

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

actually those legos have instructions that are such that you build chunks.

buy it, but only build one chunk for each week where the child doens't get any notes. (or something like that) so that you can stretch out the reward over many weeks.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Citrix
Get this instead. Lego Star Wars Classic TIE Interceptor. ONLY 20 bucks.

That one looks really cool. I think I'll get that for my desk at work.