Paying my daughter to run....

Maybe I am in the wrong, but I feel as if it my responsibility to have her healthy in every aspect of her life, which should obviously include her over all health.

There is nothing wrong with that, I was told for every A on my report card i would get $5 for every B i would get $1 BUT for every C my dad would deduct $2 from my total. I was a straight A student all the way up to senior year. (i slacked off :frown: )

My little sister was overweight during this time so my mom would have her walk each dog (we had 6) around the block each day or she couldnt watch TV. she only walked, she didnt start running until she was a freshman. Now she rarely watches TV and i graduated with 3.8 GPA

http://athlete.io/5343/why-women-should-not-run/

She clearly stated she was paying her daughter to run for her back, not for weight loss... And this article was honestly ridiculous. He could have gotten his point across without being so rude.

This. And regardless of the article's title, it isn't really saying it's bad for women to run. It's talking about the idea that steady cardio (in general) is a magical weight loss tool that doesn't require any nutrition discipline or strength training components. Any runner (even a newbie like me) will tell you that is crap.

My 11 year old loves to sit on her bum too, and she's going to be someone who as an adult may struggle w/ being chubby. She plays sports, but in between seasons it's really hard to get her motivated. This past winter, my husband and I created a work-out chart for her. If she could exercise at least 20 minutes 5 days a week for 8 out of a 12 week period, we'd buy her a cell phone. She'd been begging for one for a year. We told her that she needed to get exercise to get ready for softball season. Our only stipulation was that the 20 minutes of activity had to make her break a sweat (going for a little walk didn't count). She did amazing! I workout every day, and she and I really had fun doing things together.

I want to be clear in that we did NOT in ANY way say that her needing to exercise was weight related. We are very careful to tell our kids that being healthy and stong is way better than being skinny. Skinny doesn't get you anywhere. Strong and healthy gets you places. She didn't and doesn't need to lose weight. She's 11 and she's perfect. She does, however, need to stay in shape to play the school sports she loves. And, the BEST PART is that she totally noticed the difference when softball season started. She noticed she was more flexible, could run faster, and she didn't get winded like a lot of the other girls.

So, there's my long two cents. Overall, it was a huge success.

I resort to bribery from time to time. I have no idea if it's normal, but it works. I have my 12-year old twin boys do wind sprints against me. If they beat me they earn 50 cents. Turns out they are really fast, and I'm happy if they beat me. And they drink up the praise (and the cash) when they do. They also earn $10 for a musical performance and $20 if they have a solo.

I think it is a great idea. My mom used to do the same thing.

She allowed me some freedom and "input" (very empowering, because eventually the $ by itself will be outweighted by the bordom and dislike for the exercise... it will loose its appeal!)

So my mother set up different exercising assigning them value. Ex. 1 min of jumping rope = 10 pfennig (it was German money back then), cutting the grass (small lot) = 5DM (note the exchange rate as about $1 = 2DM ... you have to figure out what is reasonable to NOT go overboard! Keep it small!), biking 1/2 hour (for exercise... not riding to school or so) = 2DM etc.
I sat down with her and brainstormed a few exercises I thought would be fun (and least painful... because I HATED running... but had to since I was a serious tennis player.... what eventually got me over to the US... but I dispised running.... soooo boring!).
We would tally everything up to a lump sum at the end of the week (for us Fri) for payout... a wonderful day!

These days we have gyms so if you have access to one with your daughter it might be easier to come up with a variety of say 4-5 things she can pick from dep on how she feels. You can even say if you attend any exercise class the gym offers (yoga, zumba etc.) you get xyz. To me that was extremely important. ONLY running would have been to frustrating and boring over time... plus honestly prob not healthy. And you never know... she might end up finding it fun to look for new things she can do... so help her\allow her to explore.

Also..... I would def set a cap! Several reasons:
1) You don't want to go broke... heh
2) You don't want her to get obsessed and overtrain (esp in the beginning... you can always adjust)
3) to me it was always fun to see whether I can break the "bank".... as in... it set a goal for me... in a sort of twisted around the back way.... I was just stubborn and tried to proof my parents wrong ("what? you think I can't get there?"). But for that again the goal needs to be reasonable... it all depends on how your daughter ticks and you are the best one to judge that.

I think the benefit of getting your daughter moving and exploring exercises and maybe finding something that is fun to her eventually (forming habits tends to have that effect) is much more important than what a few people might think. You know your daughter best... hoenestly who are they to judge? ... they don't know all the details....

Asides a lot of other kids start working for $ pretty young... doing babysitting, odd jobs etc. Those carry a lot more risk and less health benefits. Many pay their 1st & 2nd graders money for good grades... which personally I do not agree with... But again, if it works... everyone has their own ideas of what is right. It is much more important for her to not develop into a TV addicted, game playing couch potato. :-)

Just make sure you keep an eye on her habits and keep things reasonable!


P.S.: Asides... it might show her the value of $ along with the value of exercise. Double perk! :-D

I see nothing wrong with it!! Kids love money!!!


My husband just paid my 9 year old son $30 to cut his hair before school started!! :noway: He would've shaved it bald for that!!!

Hi there.

I have no words of advice on the whole parenting issue. I was raised in complete poverty and never received money for anything until I got a job. I raised my kids without paying them for anything as well. But I strongly believe in the integrity of parenting and that all parents should have the right to raise their kids as they see fit. So to pay or not pay your kid to exercise, do chores, whatever, is of no interest to me.

However, I did want to input on this thread because my son has double curvature thoracolumbar scoliosis. He was diagnosed at age 7 and is now 22. He absolutely hated sports. Soccer was one of his most miserable childhood experiences. But he did have a great love for riding his bike. Until he got his driver's license... lol. He also adored swimming and general playing in the pool, but couldn't stand diving. He couldn't handle boxing or heavy lifting, but excelled at Parkour. As he got older, he tried Karate, and didn't care for it, but developed a love for Tae Kwon Do. He has stuck with TKD for quite some time now and will be competing for his black belt next year.

When he was younger he couldn't always clearly articulate why he hated certain sports and loved others. As an adult now, he is very in-tuned with his body and can better articulate himself by having a vocabulary that includes health and fitness terminology. He has told me that a lot of the physical activities weren't so much related to his likes and dislikes, but were more related to how they impacted his scoliosis. What I was hearing as a parent was "I don't like football." But what he was wanting to convey was "I'm afraid if I get tackled, it will permanently damage my back." What I was hearing was "Boxing sucks." but the meaning behind it was "The hunched positioning of boxing is causing thoracic inflammation." I wish I had known then what he meant and I wouldn't have pressured him to "stick out the season", "try try again", or "do it for the team."

Meh. He's no worse for the wear. Hindsight is always 20/20 in parenting. We all probably question if we are doing the right thing. We can only do our best. He's pretty friggin awesome at TKD now and hopes to someday open his own Dojang.

By the way, despite all the sports, and his own choice to live an adult active lifestyle, he's still a video game junkie.

well I don't think what you are doing is bad,
look at it this way, if parents "reward" their kids with food, like ice cream or chocolate or a fast food place, they are called awesome parents....

but you are rewarding her for doing something good for herself, and after awhile, she'll be wanting to do it just because,

just my thought!

Unless done with proper form, which most average runners do not have, running is not good exercise. It is very hard on the joints. Personally, I see no point in running just to run. If I were you, I would help her to find a physical activity that she actually enjoys and wants to do, like dance, or a different sport she hasn't tried yet.

You're not forcing her to run - you gave her an incentive and she TOOK it!! I define a bribe as "payment up front with an expectation of something to be done" - this is absolutely no different than paying your kids when they complete certain chores.

I say good for you - and I hope she continues!

This.

And make sure you run with her. You didn't say if you do or not, but it's always fun to see what they'll talk about when the endorphins kick in.