Dad Who Pays His Son $1 For Every Book Read Posts That He’s Already Out $120, Divides The Internet On This Parenting Tactic Interview With Author
Dad David Woodland started a heated discussion online after he posted that he pays his oldest son to read books. David gives his son 1 dollar for every book read and thinks that it’s a great investment. Meanwhile, his kid believes that he’s ripping his dad off by getting paid to read.
David’s post got a lot of attention online. He got nearly half a million likes on Twitter and made a large splash on Reddit where lots of people reposted his tweet. However, people were divided over whether or not what the dad is doing is right.
Some internet users fully supported David and thought that it’s a good way to get his son to develop positive habits. However, others were much more critical of David’s technique. Let’s see what both sides think, shall we, dear Pandas? Bored Panda also got a hold of David and chatted with him about the parenting tactic that he and his wife use, so be sure to read on!
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David Woodland recently shared a parenting tactic that got a lot of attention all over the internet
Image credits: David Sven
Image credits: DavidSven
Image credits: DavidSven
“I don’t think anyone expects to go viral. Been tweeting for a decade and I’d say I have had much better tweets that got 5 likes. The first thing to clarify is that this system was my wife’s idea. So, shoutout to her and she deserves this much sought after, life-changing internet fame (spoiler: it isn’t life-changing at all),” David told us.
We wanted to get to grips with what David thought about all the criticism that his post received. According to the dad, the ‘controversy’ was around incentive structures in child development.
“Some think that if you reward some tasks, those tasks become chores that a kid will never be able to enjoy. It’s a fair take. In the instance of my son, I don’t worry about his pleasure of reading. He is bright and his vocabulary is exploding,” David explained. “He sometimes shocks me with how smart and insightful he is. He has even mentioned we don’t have to pay him anymore, but we do anyway because it’s just a dollar. He doesn’t get an allowance, so outside of chores, this is possibly the only other way he can earn money on his own as an 8-year-old. He likes to save his money and is proud of the pile of money he has accumulated.”
The dad said that he’d be willing to keep paying his son to read forever. “If the rate stays at only $1, I would fund it for life if it kept working! The benefits of reading a book can change people’s life. My favorite tweet that came from the thread was this: ‘You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library,'” he said.
“It’s hard to overstate the impact of quality time and energy spent on a child. It can have a lifetime effect with exponential impact,” David added. “If anyone is interested in hearing more of my thoughts on being a dad in the Silicon Valley, they can check out this recent podcast episode where I was a guest on the Rad Dad Show.“
The dad started a heated discussion online about whether or not paying kids to read is a good idea
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Some Twitter users said that using money as an incentive is a bad idea
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Others said it’s perfectly fine to use money as an incentive:
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Meanwhile, other parents said they’re trying out similar tactics with their own children
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People who received money as an incentive to read in the past also shared how it all turned out
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The dad ended the discussion by sharing more about his oldest son
Image credits: David Sven
Image credits: DavidSven
David’s post rubbed some people the wrong way and they explained why they think he’s doing more harm than good. Some said that the moment you stop paying someone for what they should be doing anyway, they’ll lose motivation.
Others pointed out that the point isn’t to read lots of books as quickly as possible but to really understand each one of them. While some Twitter users hinted that throwing money into the mix gets rid of the joy of learning and pointed out that the kid reading for money sounded a lot like a job.
And in case you were wondering how cheating is prevented, David told the internet that his son gladly shares lots and lots of details about the newest book that he read.
According to the New York Times, a whopping 60 percent of parents admitted to paying their kids to read. However, research tends to show that positive behavior ends when the rewards dry up. “If you pay kids to read you’ll get them to read. They’ll continue to read until you end the experiment, and then they’ll stop,” Edward Deci, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, explained.
In that case, non-material ‘bribes’ might be part of the answer. While in-depth discussions with parents about what the kids read or even starting up a book club might be another part of teaching kids to value reading for reading’s sake.
Would you ever pay your child to read books, dear Pandas? What do you think of David and his wife’s parenting tactic? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
Let's try a new plan: stfu if you don't agree. Different tactics work for different family settings. Hey, guess what? Just because someone doesn't think like you doesn't make them stupid. Dad gets a gold star just for trying something that will benefit his children.
While you are right about the "stfu about other people's parenting", it was the OP who went out and tweeted about his tactics. This is an invitation for comments, since Twitter is no closed group but a way to tell things to the world.
I think the point is that the OP just want to share a successful experience with his family, in which other may family may have the same success. Everyone by default should do the diligence by verifying whether it's good or not for their own family. The thing that I found going into the wrong direction is the discrediting comments in a rude manner. Although, in the end what's goes around comes around I guess?
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Hans no
That sounds like a very juvenile thing to say for an adult "stfu if you don't agree" it doesn't make any sense and it's overly defensive
My only question would be, how does he know the kid actually reads the book properly and isn't conning dad? 120 books in 198 days. 100 pages a day if they're really 160 page books. Does the kid do anything else?
This is gold, Rae. Totally agree with you. I laughed out loud at your first sentence!
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Love your comment.
When I was young for every book I read I got a movie ticket. Now 20 years later I have a degree in literature and couple thousand books at home. I turned out just fine.
You can never have *too many* books, Ola!
My husband and I LOVE books and have quite a collection (more than some small town libraries). Last time we moved, his friends that helped kept yelling "Get a library card!" every time they passed us carrying another box of books.
You can only run out of space for them, so hooray for e-books!
Maximilian Stern easy
My parents paid me to read and I secretly loved reading. I would tear through summer reading lists and series like Nancy Drew and earn a bit of cash as well. I actually think I read more in winter because we lived in a place that was unbearably cold during that season and stunningly beautiful in summer. I was outside a lot.
Ola -
it's impossible to keep a true reader from reading. Why did your parents need to bribe you with movie tickets? Why didn't you speak up and tell them the pleasure of reading was enough reward for you? Our tiny apartment is crammed with more boxes of books than furniture, so I eat off a plate on the floor like a dog. I'm not a big eater. Tonight will be an unpleasantly meaty pastrami sandwich for dinner. Good thing we had such a good two hours of bird-watching before breakfast, My legs would fall off if I didn't walk four days a week.
Because I was 9 years old and at that age you need some kind of encouragement
LOL @ research paper claiming that incentives make people less likely to do the task. Yeah I stopped showing up for work when I got my first paycheck, and then I gave up gardening once the tomatoes started blooming. /sarcasm... I presume these are mostly childless adults that are saying "they should just be doing it out of the love for reading/because they are supposed to." Meanwhile, most people probably haven't read 120 books in their lifetime, let alone within a year like this kid did! Aside from reading, this teaches the value of EARNING money. That kid will think about how many books he will have to read if he wants to buy ___.
To be fair, I doubt you'd go to work if they stopped paying you.
Commented the idiot who didn’t look up sarcasm before typing.
There are studies confirming this kind of motivation loss, but they mostly refer to scenarios where extra incentives are given to do something you are already doing “better“. Like if somebody paid you extra if you harvested 30 instead of 20 tomatoes next year. It makes people feel distrusted apparently, which kills the joy of the task.
Yep. I think you're referring to intrinsic motivation, a trendy parenting and teaching idea making the rounds at the moment. But it's absolutely not without criticism.
Your examples are not comparable to the studies. You planted the tomato plants for the tomatoes, and you got your job for the paycheck. If you had been planting tomato plants for the flowers or doing your job on a volunteer basis, things would be different.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah, BLAH!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Troux, your analogies don't work, sarcasm or not: you don't get paid at the end of every hour, the way this kid gets paid at the end of every book, and the tomatoes don't bloom the minute you put the plant in the soil. This is not about people who "have never had kids". There is plenty of research that shows that intermittent rewards, or reinforcement, is way more effective than constant reinforcement. Go look up B.F. Skinner and his work. Look up studies on delayed gratification and healthy emotional development. While you are at it, go look up Harry Harlow. He is most famous for his studies on babies and bonding from working with monkeys, but he did a study on reinforcement with them, too. They loved raisins, and doing puzzles. He started rewarding them with raisins for every they completed, and by the end of the study, they wouldn't do puzzles unless they got raisins. This led to other studies that showed people aren't much different. Both you and this Dad are off base.
Actually, if you have your own business you often get paid when the task is done...
Let's try a new plan: stfu if you don't agree. Different tactics work for different family settings. Hey, guess what? Just because someone doesn't think like you doesn't make them stupid. Dad gets a gold star just for trying something that will benefit his children.
While you are right about the "stfu about other people's parenting", it was the OP who went out and tweeted about his tactics. This is an invitation for comments, since Twitter is no closed group but a way to tell things to the world.
I think the point is that the OP just want to share a successful experience with his family, in which other may family may have the same success. Everyone by default should do the diligence by verifying whether it's good or not for their own family. The thing that I found going into the wrong direction is the discrediting comments in a rude manner. Although, in the end what's goes around comes around I guess?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Hans no
That sounds like a very juvenile thing to say for an adult "stfu if you don't agree" it doesn't make any sense and it's overly defensive
My only question would be, how does he know the kid actually reads the book properly and isn't conning dad? 120 books in 198 days. 100 pages a day if they're really 160 page books. Does the kid do anything else?
This is gold, Rae. Totally agree with you. I laughed out loud at your first sentence!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Love your comment.
When I was young for every book I read I got a movie ticket. Now 20 years later I have a degree in literature and couple thousand books at home. I turned out just fine.
You can never have *too many* books, Ola!
My husband and I LOVE books and have quite a collection (more than some small town libraries). Last time we moved, his friends that helped kept yelling "Get a library card!" every time they passed us carrying another box of books.
You can only run out of space for them, so hooray for e-books!
Maximilian Stern easy
My parents paid me to read and I secretly loved reading. I would tear through summer reading lists and series like Nancy Drew and earn a bit of cash as well. I actually think I read more in winter because we lived in a place that was unbearably cold during that season and stunningly beautiful in summer. I was outside a lot.
Ola -
it's impossible to keep a true reader from reading. Why did your parents need to bribe you with movie tickets? Why didn't you speak up and tell them the pleasure of reading was enough reward for you? Our tiny apartment is crammed with more boxes of books than furniture, so I eat off a plate on the floor like a dog. I'm not a big eater. Tonight will be an unpleasantly meaty pastrami sandwich for dinner. Good thing we had such a good two hours of bird-watching before breakfast, My legs would fall off if I didn't walk four days a week.
Because I was 9 years old and at that age you need some kind of encouragement
LOL @ research paper claiming that incentives make people less likely to do the task. Yeah I stopped showing up for work when I got my first paycheck, and then I gave up gardening once the tomatoes started blooming. /sarcasm... I presume these are mostly childless adults that are saying "they should just be doing it out of the love for reading/because they are supposed to." Meanwhile, most people probably haven't read 120 books in their lifetime, let alone within a year like this kid did! Aside from reading, this teaches the value of EARNING money. That kid will think about how many books he will have to read if he wants to buy ___.
To be fair, I doubt you'd go to work if they stopped paying you.
Commented the idiot who didn’t look up sarcasm before typing.
There are studies confirming this kind of motivation loss, but they mostly refer to scenarios where extra incentives are given to do something you are already doing “better“. Like if somebody paid you extra if you harvested 30 instead of 20 tomatoes next year. It makes people feel distrusted apparently, which kills the joy of the task.
Yep. I think you're referring to intrinsic motivation, a trendy parenting and teaching idea making the rounds at the moment. But it's absolutely not without criticism.
Your examples are not comparable to the studies. You planted the tomato plants for the tomatoes, and you got your job for the paycheck. If you had been planting tomato plants for the flowers or doing your job on a volunteer basis, things would be different.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah, BLAH!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Troux, your analogies don't work, sarcasm or not: you don't get paid at the end of every hour, the way this kid gets paid at the end of every book, and the tomatoes don't bloom the minute you put the plant in the soil. This is not about people who "have never had kids". There is plenty of research that shows that intermittent rewards, or reinforcement, is way more effective than constant reinforcement. Go look up B.F. Skinner and his work. Look up studies on delayed gratification and healthy emotional development. While you are at it, go look up Harry Harlow. He is most famous for his studies on babies and bonding from working with monkeys, but he did a study on reinforcement with them, too. They loved raisins, and doing puzzles. He started rewarding them with raisins for every they completed, and by the end of the study, they wouldn't do puzzles unless they got raisins. This led to other studies that showed people aren't much different. Both you and this Dad are off base.
Actually, if you have your own business you often get paid when the task is done...