Bribing Our Children

According to a recent article by the Associated Press, more parents are bribing their children than ever before. Parents are literally paying their children to be "good" - whether it is behavior at home, good grades or even brushing one's teeth.

In my opinion, bribery isn't the issue. I think that it is reasonable to reward a child for a large accomplishment. But for everyday things, like being polite, or listening to the babysitter? Please.

The issue is that many parents don't want to be their child's parent; they want to be their child's friend. They want their child to like them, and find it hard to set a firm limit and follow through with an action step. Being a parent isn't always fun - however, the time that you invest setting firm and clear limits when your child is young will pay dividends when he or she is older. This doesn't mean that your child won't test you - he or she will. However, you won't have to resort to bribery to get your child to be a productive, polite and contributing member of our society... and isn't that what parenting is all about?