Bribery. It conjures up images of crooked politicians or police officers. When it comes to children, is it bribery, or is it a reward. Surely the offer of something special such as toys, outings and other treats is a positive lesson in being rewarded for doing the right thing.

The opposite of course is the removal of these special items as punishment for doing the wrong thing. Again, a lesson that children need to learn. For centuries we have offered rewards (bribes) to children to get them to do the right thing.

Whether its deserts if they eat their vegetables; going to the playground if they behave themselves; letting them go on dates if their homework is up to date; they could all be considered bribes. But surely they are being rewarded.

Bribery is a negative that is normally used in conjunction with wrong doing. If a reward is offered to a child to do the wrong thing, for example, lie, steal, cheat or worse; that is bribery. The lesson the child is learning is how to get things by doing the wrong thing.

In summary, we need to make a clear distinction between the terms bribery and reward. To answer the question as written. We should not use bribery to help with behavior issues as we would be rewarding the wrong behavior. We should instead be using rewards to help with behavior issues.

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