Report Cards

[MamaHog]

We got report cards today. This is the first time my 4th grade son has gotten anything other than A's and B's. He got one C (76) and that brought his semester grade down to a B (81). He was in tears because of this and obviously bothered by it. So now I have to decide if a C is worthy of some sort of punishment...I know it isn't terrible, but it is below what I know he is capable of. So my question to y'all is, at what age do you start punishing for bad grades and what do you do as a punishment?

 

[unionmom]

It's a tough one. You want them to know how important it is but you have to be careful not to crush them with the pressure and weight of it all too early. So far, we've been fortunate. Into 5th grade and nothing lower than Bs here and those are hard for him to take. He's still used to more As than anything. I don't know that I would "punish" him for a C but there would certainly be more focused study time and extra work either that we got from teacher or came up with on our own to help ensure that he really understood everything and was better prepared for tests. Work sooner and harder on projects. Whatever it takes. Now if there's no effort and a bad attitude to go along with the C, that's a whole other thing.

 

[newsjunky]

Grandson had straight A's all through elementary school. Got one B in 5th grade math and it kept him from getting an award for all A's all though the 5 years there. He did not work as hard as he should have and got what he deserved. That was some years ago. I would cut the child some slack if the C was in the new math. If he is capable of better then I might come down on him a little. He is probably beating himself up about it already.

 

[Foxmeister]

We got report cards today. This is the first time my 4th grade son has gotten anything other than A's and B's. He got one C (76) and that brought his semester grade down to a B (81). He was in tears because of this and obviously bothered by it. So now I have to decide if a C is worthy of some sort of punishment...I know it isn't terrible, but it is below what I know he is capable of. So my question to y'all is, at what age do you start punishing for bad grades and what do you do as a punishment?

Sounds to me as if he's taking it hard already. I think he's realized that when doesn't fully apply himself in one class, it affects his grade average. I would just talk to him and reconfirm that with him and then ask him if he knows what he must do now to bring his grade average back up. Don't answer the question for him. Guide him along to where he comes up with the correct answer himself so it becomes his idea.

 

[MamaHog]

Thanks y'all! We have decided not to do anything for the time being. He fell apart when I was telling his daddy...I think he is punishing himself. We explained that if he doesn't understand something, he needs to ask questions and if he still doesn't understand something. he needs to ask more questions. The poor guy had to learn another hard lesson yesterday when we found his MP3 player that he got for Christmas in the pocket of the pants that I had just washed and dried.