VIP tickets to the Grammy Awards, million dollar parties and trips around the world are some of the things Las Vegas entrepreneur Lana Fuchs dangles in front of her kids to get them to behave and attain straight A’s.
Though her rewards are anything but average, her methods are universal. Ask any parent and they will tell you that they have used rewards as an incentive for their child to work hard in school.
In an exclusive interview on ABC News 20/20, Lana Fuchs, a Las Vegas entrepreneur and successful businesswoman shares her parenting style which some might view as extreme.
A desire to motivate
Her mantra, “desire is the key to motivation” and as seen in the interview, she is not above giving anything her children desires if they meet the grade. As she says, “I don’t give something for nothing.” Some of her rewards include customized $20,000 shopping sprees, a million dollar Bar mitzvah and $10,000 paintings.
Reward board
Her two children’s progress is tracked on their own reward boards. The system pegs each A grade at five stars, but Fuchs also takes away stars for mediocrity and failure. What this means is that her children know they will be given a ‘C’ grade lifestyle if they produce such grades in school but ‘A’ grades also signal a top lifestyle.
Critics
Fuchs has her critics of course, an unlikely one being her own sister who feels that Fuchs is going overboard with the rewarding, especially since the kids will work hard regardless.
Detractors from other quarters also feel that rewarding children for performance could be a big mistake. In fact, psychologist and parenting expert, Dr. Phil McGraw has come out to say that “But you have to be careful because if the rewards get too big, too lavish, then you actually wind up undermining their internal motivation.”
Reward or bribe?
Fuchs however defends her parenting style and says although some might see her gifts as a form of bribery; she sees it as a reward for their hard work and good grades. For her, it is about “validating more of what I’d like to get” and therefore motivate her children to do better and ultimately set higher goals for themselves.
Many forms of rewards
Rewards of course take many different forms and many parents admit to giving their kids incentives to do well in school and as most of us are not multi-millionaires, incentives can come in the form of extended curfews or driving privileges.
However, most experts agree that true rewards don’t cost a penny and come in the form of praise and encouragement.
What do you think? Do you feel that kids need rewards to be motivated to be the best person they can be or are parents like Lana Fuchs just perpetuating the materialistic nature of society and spoiling the market for the average parent.
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