Rewarding Your Children Is Rewarding, Essay Example

Rewarding children for doing good things has been associated with astounding consequences. The intention of the parent however may be reinforcement of responsible actions well contemplated but the fact of the matter is that, rewards accorded to kids usually backfire to the parents (Eisenberger & Aselage, 95-117). It has been proven that rewarding children with material things facilitates their growing up being well and materialistic. The parents who prove to be supportive as well as loving have a greater tendency of expressing their love to their children through material goods (Bassett-Jones & Lloyd, 929-943). This in turn facilitates the upbringing of their children in a way that they value other people with precious possessions.

The use of material rewards as a gesture for reward is a pace setter to unending overconsumption. The opposite must also apply; an act of indiscipline is punishable by taking away a material belonging from the child (London, Larsen & Thisted, 5-27).

This trend is projected to continue and develop as a culture of defining an individual in terms of material things. Reinforcing good behavior makes the kids to be more materialistic and grateful but great care must be taken to mitigate potential negative implications that may arise from material rewarding (Ohly & Fritz, 623-629). A strategy that was found to be viable in this respect involves persuading the children to embrace gratitude as a gesture of something perceived as good. As the children are rewarded, they must also be trained and encouraged to express thanks to others as well as things that form part of their lives. Expression of gratitude has been linked to augmentation of value for other people, social capital as well as a mindful growth.

Works cited

Bassett-Jones, N., & Lloyd, G. C. Does Herzberg’s motivation theory have staying power? Journal of Management Development, 24, 929-943, 2005.

Eisenberger, R., & Aselage, J. Incremental effects of reward on experienced performance pressure: positive outcomes for intrinsic interest and creativity. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 95-117, 2009.

London, M., Larsen, H. H., & Thisted, L. N.  Relationships between feedback and self-  development. Group & Organizational Management, 24, 5-27, 2009.

Ohly, S., & Fritz, C. Challenging the status quo: What motivates proactive behavior? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80, 623-629, 2007.