I had lunch with a single Dad recently. His eleven year old son had just come to live with him. He was overwhelmed with the responsibilities of single parenthood. 

I could relate, I had raised three children for thirteen years with little support from their dad.

This man had three degrees and valued education above all else. His son, on the other hand, valued conversation. His son had a tendency to prioritize conversation with other students above the conversation his teacher was having with the class. In other words, he was considered a disruption to the teacher’s goal of imparting lessons to the class.

He had grounded his son to his room for the prior weekend because he had gotten a bad grade. 

I have raised three children and all of them were good students. 

How did this happen?

I didn’t expect them to get below a B.  Anytime I saw a C I would express moderate disappointment and tell them that I knew they could do better and they needed to work harder on that class.

I also gave them an incentive. A lesson I learned from my Dad.

When I was a little girl every time I would get a report card I had to show it to my Daddy. He would give me a dime for each A. I thought that was pretty good stuff.  Obviously times were different during that age, a dime doesn’t pay for much these days.

I gave my children ten dollars for each A and if they made straight A’s they got hundred dollars. I am not rich so this is a lot of money to me. I justified the expense though, figuring it was an investment into their college funds. If they got good grades they would get more scholarships. 

My oldest son got a full ride scholarship into the University of Central Florida for pre-med. Pretty good return on investment I would say.

 

My youngest son is an honor roll society member and my daughter is doing well in college. She was more inclined to value social interaction above studying in high school like my friend’s son. She has matured a lot since she graduated from high school. I think she may realize that education is a very good step to take on the ladder of success.
I hope in some way I have helped all of my children climb the ladder of success by setting a good example and by encouraging positive steps in their life. Only time will tell that story.