BellaOnline Forums Family Daughters Yikes a C !

I believe that parents are making a mistake to punish poor grades. If the poor grades are the result of distractions, including too much focus on socializing, sports, television watching, etc. then it is obvious you need to explain that and make corrections in the child's study schedule. And yes, schedule study periods at home!

If the poor grades are the result of just "not getting" the subject matter, help her. If you can't because you don't have time, hook her up with a mentor, peer pal, tutor or after school time with the teacher. If you don't get the subject matter yourself, take the time to learn along with her. How can you expect your child to learn if you don't want to?

If the poor grades are the result of honest effort and, for some reason, inability to understand the material (developmental challenges or low IQ), then absolutely be okay with it. And express that you are proud of her efforts and that is what really matters: doing her best. Then, help her find other areas where she can excel and express her gifts and talents.

Parents have to get off the whole punishment and reward system. Learning and feeling good about your intellectual progress (being smarter) is the reward. Realizing you are behind your peers is punishment enough. Even if kids say they don't care, they honestly do care inside.

If a kid is self-motivated, she will learn and succeed on her own without anyone pushing her or dangling bribes that will need to get bigger and better to keep her interested. Teachers and parents forget that this information is fascinating if approached properly.

Completely! You must understand that a lot of parents push until the child can't be pushed anymore. And then they are stressed out. On my upcoming article on Friday you'll see how some parents push, and they are completely satisfied with the outcome. A balance must be created for the sake of the daughter. Thanks for sharing!

My husband is all about the A's. He gives them such a hard time about it, but to be honest, if they were well rounded and had other interests and were enjoying their childhood (within reason). I'm ok with a C here or there. My daughter would bring home the worst grades at the beginning of the marking period, but would end the semester with an A.

She'll probably be really mad at me for sharing this, but her jr year of high school she took an AP American History class and pulled F's and D's ( a lot of the class did). When it came time to take the AP placement test - that girl pulled an A!!! She seems to like the pressure. ...Lol...