excitement!

[AW1]

I had to share with someone who can appreciate why I am excited.

My daughter landed her loop jump on Friday :D Not once, not twice, not thrice but 4 times out of 5.

The funny thing was that her coach told her "land your loop jump and I'll give you $4"... she has been close to landing it for a while but this was the clincher for her apparently... she is 5 years old LOL I had better start a savings account if I'm going to have to give her money each time she lands another new jump!!

[DallasSkater]

Congrats to your 5 year old daughter!

I just learned the loop jump too. I am still inconsistent but can usually get a fully rotated one only once or twice out of about 10 under rotated ones per session so far. Perhaps I am missing the 4 dollar incentive! Too funny that it worked for money! Thinking...did your dd then hand over her treasure to help Mommy pay for the coach? lol

[AW1]

Congrats to your 5 year old daughter!

I just learned the loop jump too. I am still inconsistent but can usually get a fully rotated one only once or twice out of about 10 under rotated ones per session so far. Perhaps I am missing the 4 dollar incentive! Too funny that it worked for money! Thinking...did your dd then hand over her treasure to help Mommy pay for the coach? lol

Congratulations to you too for landing the loop! Maybe you ought to introduce the 4 dollar incentive too :lol:

Much to my disappointment, no she didn't hand over the cash!! :lol:

[jskater49]

congratulations to your daughter. Warning - the cash incentive gets more expensive. My daughter got $50 for her axel. She gets $100 for a double axel or a triple, but I'm fairly certain that's not going to happen. She did once have a coach try to turn her over rotated double sal into a triple, but that didn't go anywhere. :P

j

[Isk8NYC]

Yowtch! $50? That's a lot of money, but it IS a lot of work to land an axel.

My oldest DD's first tooth fairy visit brought her a Silver Walking Liberty half-dollar that I'd had for years. I think it was worth about $50 at the time. The twins also got "special" half-dollars for first lost teeth. Now, it's ordinary Kennedys. Four dollars is more in line with my budget.

Congrats on your DD's achievement.

[jskater49]

Yowtch! $50? That's a lot of money, but it IS a lot of work to land an axel.



I think an axel is a major milestone in skating she worked really hard for it...the only other time I used $ as an incentive was with her sitspin in competition. She struggled with that and at her coach's suggestion I think I gave her so much for every revolution in her competition. Her coach counted, which saved me money because she was pretty strict in what she counted (after entry, only in the correct position)

j

[Isk8NYC]

I wasn't criticizing; as I said, an axel IS A LOT OF WORK to land. I just can't imagine giving my kid (or a student!!!) a $50 bill. LOL

I use a pay-per-chore approach for house chores. Easier than trying to tally at the end of the week. Sweeping the porch is a $1 job, shoveling snow off the porch is $2. That sort of thing.

[phoenix]

LOL, it seems the axel is the big payoff jump for a lot of kids. One girl here, who had struggled for *years* to get it clean, got a trip to the local amusement park! And I believe that was funded by 2 coaches, not the parents. We sometimes get just as vested in our students progress.

[sk8nlizard]

Congratulations on the loop! It is a great accomplish. That loop is hard because it involves more timing than the salchow or toeloop (at least it has taken my students longer to do the loop than the other 2).
Also, with the axel, the first time my student lands a CLEAN, axel (up to my specifications) he or she recieves $10 for me. That being said, it is not easy to get that $10!!!

[Mrs Redboots]

Well done your daughter!

And I've been part of bribing a young skater to land her axel, one day when she was really close.... didn't happen, though, fortunately for my, and her coaches' pockets! That was some years ago now, of course - said skater has long since moved on to double axels and triple other jumps....

[jskater49]

I wasn't criticizing; as I said, an axel IS A LOT OF WORK to land. I just can't imagine giving my kid (or a student!!!) a $50 bill. LOL

.

No offense taken. How old is your kid? My daughter was 14 when she got her axel, little different than a 5 year old ;) I don't do cash much anymore - she has an atm card. She does have a job, but I don't want her out without access to cash.

j

[AW1]

haha! well I suppose that's the thing, at 5 years old $4 probably feels like $50 to her!

[Isk8NYC]

No offense taken. How old is your kid? My daughter was 14 when she got her axel, little different than a 5 year old ;) I don't do cash much anymore - she has an atm card. She does have a job, but I don't want her out without access to cash.

jThat's true: a teenager could find many uses for $50 and it would be a major motivator. My 8 yr olds would be boggled by that much money at once. They once told someone I make $1000/hr teaching skating. Funny thing is, I think the adult believed them!

Hopefully, I'll have to make this decision someday! This was a very interesting thread. Wish I'd gotten money for my axel, way back when. Hahaha

[teresa]

I've thought about this topic and I don't agree with paying your child for "things" in skating. The desire to improve and do things in skating should come from inside your child. Encouragement from the coach and you is great but the push to achieve skills should be from inside the individual. I'm an adult skater and see much at the rink. =-) The children and adults who show the most promise and improvement or the skaters who push themselves to achieve. In fact, the desire to do is hard to hold in check. Money, coach, parents, etc. can't create the internal drive a person needs. Money is a temporary push. My two cents, children need to learn how to push themselves for their wants, it's a learned behavior and desire in an individual. You don't want money, you, or a certain person to be their enabler in life. As a parent this is what I want for my children.

teresa

Just my opinion. =-)

[Mrs Redboots]

You're quite right, Teresa, but money - or a similar bribe - can just give the last "push" that's needed if a child - or an adult, for that matter - so obviously _could_ do something but lacks the self-confidence. A skater who really ought to be able to land her axel now, but doesn't believe she can do it. "Go on," says the coach, "I'll give you a fiver if you land it right now!" So she makes a real effort - and lands it! And the block is broken, and she now knows she _can_ land her axel.

I did this with my daughter when she was learning to swim - she wanted a new pen, and she so obviously could swim a width if she only believed in herself.... it worked!

[cathrl]

I agree, as a "last push" it can work. Star charts for tinies can work wonders :)

What makes me really sad is when a child's offered something they really, really want in return for doing something that's simply too hard for them. A friend of mine was offered a snooker table if he got certain grades in his O-levels. He worked his socks off, he got good grades, but he never was going to get what his parents had specified. He didn't, and so no snooker table. What was a great achievement for him was marked down as a failure.

Which is why, when my daughter did her school entrance exams recently, we gave her the "well done" present as soon as we got home after the admissions day. She'd done her best, and I didn't think it was fair to base whether or not she got her treat on the quality of the other candidates - something she had no control over. (She got in! Yay!)

I've never offered her anything for skating achievements, though her figure coach gave her 1 GBP for her first axel and another one for her first double sal - he does it for all his pupils. Not a vast amount of money, just enough to say "well done". We do buy pictures and put them on the wall if she skates well, but that's about as far as it goes. And I'd never make it conditional on a particular achievement beforehand.

[teresa]

I agree with a well done surprise present. It's good that kids are rewarded for special effort in school. I like the idea of the effort being rewarded because results aren't always obtained. I don't like. me personaly, that kids get bribed at the rink for certain skills. Sometimes I'm not sure if the child is doing the skill for them or the parent.

teresa

[AW1]

My daughter is 5. She's at the skill level that she CAN do things, but she is stubborn so sometimes she needs a "good swift kick" (figuratively speaking) as my mum used to say ...

I can't see any issue with it myself. As I mentioned, it was the coach that gave her the bonus. She sees it as just that, a BONUS for working real hard on something she's been trying to do for a while but was getting frustrated with.

I can understand people not liking the idea, but it's fine with me. I know I have to bribe her to clean her room...she's a kid for goodness sakes. If it takes a few $$ incentive for her to do her work then I am up for it.

We're not talking about a child who doesn't even want to skate being bribed to stay there or on the ice as I have seen several kids at our rink like this. Parents whose kids clearly don't want to be there, but they bribe them by saying "I'll take you to McDonalds" or whatever... now THAT is wrong in my opinion!!

[beegeemom]

My boyfriend is a private coach, and he gives his skaters money to land things too. My dd hasn't earned any yet, since we're still at waltz jump, toe loop stage.

I think his going rate is $10 for an axel though. :-)

Hey, if it helps, why not.

[Sessy]

can somebody tell me why I keep posting double! grr.

[Sessy]

One of my group lesson coaches gives 1 euro for I think toeloop-toeloop-toeloop and things like that. Only to little kids of course. The catch is that if they don't land it, they have to do 3 rounds of speedy crossovers round the rink. That's why only kids ever take her up on that bet.
She also does the same thing with kids who don't check their jumps, if they check 3 jumps in a row they get a euro, otherwise 3 rounds of crossovers round the rink.

[twokidsskatemom]

I guess there is nothing wrong with a one time pay for something extra special.
Ot but I dont see the point of paying kids to do things they should do anyway ie room cleaning. The problem is when thay are older and have birthday money ect, they dont need your money for room cleaning and chores.So they dont want to do them.
We use the we all live here, so we all must clean method.They know it needs to be done before we do..... so it gets done.When they are older, they dont get paid for it, its a part of life :)
YMMV of course

[Isk8NYC]

I know I have to bribe her to clean her room...she's a kid for goodness sakes. I am smiling right now. This past December, the wholesale store had tissues in jazzy oval-shaped foil boxes on clearance. They were very pretty and looked like holiday presents. I gave them to the Twins and my older DD for their bedrooms. I didn't consider it a gift - they all needed tissues for their room and these were festive. They loved them, in fact, the twins cleaned their bedroom without any suggestion on my part and 'installed' these beautiful tissue boxes. (I've now refilled them twice.) I was pleasantly surprised and I am eagerly awaiting the next unusual tissue boxes! LOL

I give stickers to kids at the rink all the time, and if one of my students gets one, I'll give him/her an extra for their siblings. I've turned two little boys (both brothers of my students) into 'sticker beggars' though, which is bad. They're very greedy for these stupid little pieces of paper and it upsets their parents to hear "Where's my sticker?" (Manners-wise) I shouldn't feel like it's my fault that their manners disappear, but maybe I shouldn't be quite so generous.

[AW1]

I give stickers to kids at the rink all the time, and if one of my students gets one, I'll give him/her an extra for their siblings.

Stickers will work wonders with little kids honestly. My daughter's gym coach gives them a sticker if they try really hard and behave themselves for their entire lesson (which is a feat in itself considering the kids are 4-6yrs old and have to concentrate for 1.5 hours straight!)

I understand what you are saying twokidsskatemom about cleaning being something that needs to be done and therefore everyone needs to pitch in. Unfortunately we tried that approach with our daughter and it didn't work. I suppose that's what makes the world turn. We are all different, and have different ways of parenting.

[teresa]

The best gift I was ever given by a coach was a card. It showed up in my home mail box one day and I was totally surprised to hear from my coach. She told me that she was proud of me and gave me many kudos. My coach is good about the compliments in person but it was special to have her write it out and send it to me. It made me feel good that she took the time to think about it. =-)

teresa

[cathrl]

I guess there is nothing wrong with a one time pay for something extra special.
Ot but I dont see the point of paying kids to do things they should do anyway ie room cleaning. The problem is when thay are older and have birthday money ect, they dont need your money for room cleaning and chores.So they dont want to do them.
We use the we all live here, so we all must clean method.They know it needs to be done before we do..... so it gets done.When they are older, they dont get paid for it, its a part of life :)
YMMV of course

Yup, we do that too. If the kids complain (and they do :) ), I tell them they can swap their jobs with mine any time they like. Somehow they prefer being responsible for keeping one room tidy to keeping the rest of the house tidy. I live in hopes of them one day doing it when it needs doing, instead of when I get cross, though :)

[WhisperSung]

I didn't know this about my coach until one of her younger students just started landing her axel consistently, but my coach gives $1 with the word "first axel" sharpied on it when a skater lands her first clean axel. She said she'd dish out $10 if they landed their double axel and $100 if any of her students ever got that triple axel.

I started with my coach when I had more of my doubles, so it didn't apply to me. All I got the day I landed my first axel was a cracked rib from falling wrong on one. ;)

Congrats on that loop, though! Loops just seem conceptually difficult to get. There's no swinging free leg to help you into the jump, and there's no toe pick to get you off the ice. It's all about timing and feeling. It's a great accomplishment, especially for a 5 year old! :)

[Mrs Redboots]

Yup, we do that too. If the kids complain (and they do :) ), I tell them they can swap their jobs with mine any time they like. Somehow they prefer being responsible for keeping one room tidy to keeping the rest of the house tidy. I live in hopes of them one day doing it when it needs doing, instead of when I get cross, though :)
They will. Once they hit adolescence - you will have to pick everything up and put it in a black sack once. Or even worse, tidy it up for them - how they hate that when they're old enough to value their privacy.

I do remember mine, at your daughter's age, being grounded and confined to barracks until her room was tidy. A small head poked out of the door while I was entertaining a friend: "Mummy, does my room have to be immaculate, or will just tidy do?"

These days, I have to tidy up before she comes over to visit!