Rewarding your children for certain actions, especially if they already enjoy what they are doing, totally doesn't work! Read on as I draw parallels to...yoga :D
This is the last paragraph of the study:
Yes, sometimes rewards do work, especially if people really don't want to do something. But when tasks are inherently interesting to us rewards can damage our motivation by undermining our natural talent for self-regulation.
Somehow I'm not surprised about this at all. I find that the yoga students that simply love to practice yoga for it's own sake, just for the love of it, are much more inclined to continue to practice AND have fun doing it. If yoga practitioners choose to get into yoga to get some sort of physical reward (becoming more limber, skinnier, getting a yoga butt, etc) they tend to drop out of practicing pretty darn fast. I know that I received some nice physical rewards from my practice, but they were just icing on the cake. When one does begin to practice consistently one does get bonus rewards, like the yummy blissed out feeling after a wonderful yoga practice...but I hate to be the bearer of 'bad' news, that feeling doesn't happen ALL the time. If one is getting on the mat to get blissed out, I guarantee that there will be more disappointment.
Yoga is a wonderful way to cultivate our natural talent for self-regulation, to feel, to enjoy, to stay steady, to smile, even in the midst of crappy feelings or challenging situations.
I hope to allow my daughter to shine because she wants to, and to dance even when we're not cheering her on. That deep desire that bubbles up from the depths of her perfect little heart is the desire that needs to be cultivated :)
Here's another quote from the article:
When we do something for its own sake, because we enjoy it or because it fills some deep-seated desire, we are intrinsically motivated. On the other hand when we do something because we receive some reward, like a certificate or money, this is extrinsic motivation.
Please read the entire study here. It's really a great read :D
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