When Extrinsic Motivators Go Bad.
We all use external (extrinsic) motivators to get kids to do things.
“If you do your homework you can have half an hour on you Xbox”
“Tidy your room and we will go to beach this weekend.”
As a temporary ‘fix’ external motivators are fine but the problem is that people, especially young people, quickly see them as the reason for doing things.
So when Bradley’s dad Eddie proudly announced his new way of motivating his son at the start of the season I knew that it would be trouble.
Bradley is a talented kid who is constantly harangued by his dad during game time.
His dad shouts such pearls of wisdom as “Run Bradley, RUUUUN” or the ever helpful “Shoooot!!” - a top level footballing brain at work right there I am sure you will agree?
Well Eddie’s masterplan for the season just gone was to pay Bradley £1 for every goal, £5 for a hatrick and £10 for four or more goals in a game.
In the season just gone Bradley rarely passed but shot, a lot.
But he scored fewer goals in his second season than he did in his first.
His team mates (including my son) began treating him as a problem to work around rather than the talented player he actually is.
Because six of his players were not passing the ball to, or indeed receiving the ball from Bradley, Alan, (the coach/manager) tried other players instead of Bradley and the team as a whole played better.
So now Bradley was getting less game time and was even more frustrated because he couldn’t ‘earn’ the money he as expecting to from his Sunday mornings.
Maybe Eddie sholud think long and hard about how he motivates his son or better still Eddie should get out of the way and let his son be motivated by the game he loves playing?
Adn there is always the option of a paper round if he needs the money that badly?