All-Star Bribes For New Skills

[vannahlexis]

When I cheered my coach said she'd take us to cedar point if we got full team standing tucks (We never did lol). My old tumbling coach gives out tshirts with his logo on them and the back says what skill you got. He gave us candy when I cheered. Never saw any of this as an issue.


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[yooolizzi]

My mom never told me she was going to do things for me for a new skill, she just did them. When I landed jumps to back for the first time, she was sitting in the gym, and she was jumping up and down with excitement, hugged me, and we went home and she made me grilled cheese for dinner. When I got over my fear of tumbling off the tumble track, she was excited and bought me a milkshake after practice. When I threw my full with a spotter only standing there, she gave me a bow she had bought in the proshop while I was in the gym and didn't know about it.

My accomplishments in cheerleading not only made me proud, but made my mom proud. Knowing I made her, and still make her proud, is a better reward than all the milkshakes and grilled cheese in the world.

 

[MakeYourMark]

My mom did this when I was young (around 9-11) when I was in gymnastics. I was perfectly capable of doing the skill, just stubborn and scared. And she only 'bribed' me with thing I had expressed interest in, not with something random like money. It worked with me in some cases, and other times it didnt.

That being said, it also promotes doing the skill (or getting on the team...whatever the situation is) then stop working as hard. There were a time or two where I was basically like "Look I did the skill, want the reward- dont do it again for while cause I got what I wanted"

 

[BuegeSmalls]

Hmm maybe if my mom would have bribed me I would have gotten over my mental block faster...
Jk. I'm not a fan of this.


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[cheermom02]

Been there, done that. Yes I can say I'm way less of a SM than I used to be (even though she started to rear her ugly head during tryouts and these first couple practices but I beat her back down). Cp got $100 first time she threw her full I'm ashamed to say. It did work though, but then I got the "what will you give me if I do this skill" questions and realized it was a big expensive mistake! Needless to say we no longer do that but we might make a stop at Starbucks when she has a good practice or feels good about how tryouts went.


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[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

This happens often with privates.

I tell people all the time that if your child is above Tiny (because, let's face it, a preschooler needs bribed with M&Ms sometimes) and you're bribing them to:

*go to the private.
*pay attention during the private
*throw skills during the private


...please don't waste your money.

Ex: If a Senior kid needs an "If you don't focus during your whole private, I'm not buying you that phone" talk, she needs a new sport.

 

[SparkleSpankies]

I bribed a kid with $1 to do her handspring, but I said she has to pay me back that same $1 everytime she didn't do it. For the most part she always did it, on occassion, she wouldn't. Brought me starbucks to one practice b/c she said she owed me

 

[Official OWECheer]

I bribed a kid with $1 to do her handspring, but I said she has to pay me back that same $1 everytime she didn't do it. For the most part she always did it, on occassion, she wouldn't. Brought me starbucks to one practice b/c she said she owed me

Now THAT is genius.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

People will ask me "What can I do to get her to really focus?" or "What can I do to get her to want this?"

There is literally nothing you can do to MAKE your kid want any team or skill if she/he doesn't.

I think it all goes back to the fact that if YOU are more interested/invested your kid's skills than he/she is, it's not worth it.

If you're constantly bribing, begging, etc. about cheer, it's YOU that wants the skill/team/whatever. Not your kid.

In that case, you should re-evaluate the use of your time and money.

 

[cheer25mom]

A coach once bribed my kid with $5 to do a skill, while I was paying him for the private!


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[FlexyTumblerMom]

People will ask me "What can I do to get her to really focus?" or "What can I do to get her to want this?"

There is literally nothing you can do to MAKE your kid want any team or skill if she/he doesn't.

I think it all goes back to the fact that if YOU are more interested/invested your kid's skills than he/she is, it's not worth it.

If you're constantly bribing, begging, etc. about cheer, it's YOU that wants the skill/team/whatever. Not your kid.

In that case, you should re-evaluate the use of your time and money.

Yes to this. Once they are old enough to understand what's going on, the kid should want to get the skill/make the target team on their own.

 

[Coach Sara]

This is an interesting topic because it relates to motivation, which is a very complex concept. There are ways to use these types of "rewards" appropriately, and then there are ways (as some of you have noted) that are problematic. There is a risk with a bribe of it being a one time motivator, pushing someone before they are ready, and so there is more damage in the long run if it freaks a kid out. There is another risk that when you take the bribe/reward away, that the person no longer wants to do the task. I think there is a difference between that and celebrating progress (for example, a week in a row of doing the skill) or accomplishing a goal that is set (and one that has a plan of action to work toward). Some kids will be motivated by extrinsic motivators (which can be $, Starbucks, new clothes, etc. but this can also be positive praise/feedback/recognition). In some circumstances, these can be helpful, but the idea would be to help the individual develop their own intrinsic motivation, which is doing it because you enjoy it, you want to see progress, etc. So, I'd say when used appropriately, rewards can be useful, but often times those "typical bribes" we think of can have negative consequences (either short-term or long-term).

 

[NJ Coach]

I hate when parents bribe a kid to get a skill. On top of being physically ready to throw a skill, athletes need to be mentally ready as well, and sometimes that takes longer. Bribing a kid to throw a skill they are not ready for is asking for injury, mental block or both. You want to take your kid for ice cream after mastering a new skill, go for it...but don't start throwing around promises of big ticket items or cash. I want kids to get skills because they want the skill, not the cash.

 

[newbiemom]

We celebrate new skills with high fives and letting her know that we are happy that she's happy about it. I reward practices that I can see she is working really hard with ice cream on the way home... but I don't really even tell her that is why, I just ask if she wants ice cream randomly. I am so proud of how hard my CP works- seriously- she works so hard and I tell her that all of the time. When she asked if I was proud of her BHS, I told her that I was- but that I was more proud of how hard she worked to get it.

If I rewarded just the skill- I think she would expect it every time or only throw it for the reward.

 

[ErinS]

I bribe my 9 yo niece with ice cream....but I suppose it's more of a reward for landing a skill.....while knowing she won't get the ice cream for busting.




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