My friends in elementary school got white bread sandwiches, fruit in a cup, and a candy bar in their lunches. Let’ just say that when my lunch box opened, no one was interested in trading. My friends also got paid for good grades. I didn’t.  And frankly, we all turned out just fine.

We never paid our kids for good grades. Yep, we stuck to the “Success is its own reward” paradigm. Our twins are slogging their way through college with better- than-average results.

If I had it to do over again?

I’d pay.

Why? Because an extra incentive can establish a vision — an understanding of what they are capable of — that they can draw from forever.

My cross country coach helped me trim a few minutes by kicking my heels on the course. Brutal, but I never forgot that I had some extra “juice” when I needed it. I placed 3rd in the central state finals.

Our daughter hesitated to play drums in front of a large crowd. I pressured her into it and she flourished.

The bird gets pushed from the nest. They learn to fly.

A little nudge.

You get the idea.

Success is its own reward. But sometimes it can use a little bump.