Why You Should Not Bait Your Teen [One Minute Feature]

Today, we explain what it means to bait your teen, and why you shouldn’t do it.

I can’t stress enough the negative effect of baiting your kids with rewards in order to get them to do what you’ve told them to do—especially when what you’ve told them to do is a responsibility common to any healthy family—like cleaning their room or taking out the trash.

When we bribe our kids to fulfill obligations like this, not only do we retard their character, but we retard ours too. Don’t misunderstand me, there are things for which I MIGHT offer my child an incentive, or a bribe if you will, like reading any number of quality books—especially Scripture. Because, beyond fulfilling domestic obligations, this is a means of jumpstarting their own free will toward loftier appetites without them resenting you for it.

Picture Provided by: Unsplash.