Bribe Children to Learn the Right Way

 

Bribe Children to Learn the Right Way

As any parent or teacher will tell you, getting a child to learn—to truly enjoy it and want to do it—is one of the most difficult things you can do today. You are fighting against shrinking attention spans chased by catchy TikTok videos, music-filled dance clips, and everything else found on social media. Even YouTube has to deal with the shrinking attention of its viewers; that is why they are pushing "Shorts" so hard today.

How to Get Their Attention

One of the things I do to grab the attention of students is to challenge them to play games. I do this during Daycare—the one place on a school campus where children want nothing to do with learning. Daycare is their time. It’s free time to play, talk with friends, and run wild on the playground while they wait for their parents to pick them up.

While we tell them to do their homework or read a book during daycare, we know most resist this. They don’t give it their all, or they do the bare minimum. That is the reality of the after-school environment.

However, I challenge them to games because I am looking to build an interest in learning and sharpen their critical thinking skills. Also, I like to win. I mean crush them. Oh, don’t feel bad for them—that’s what makes it fun. Let me explain.

Bribery Works

I’ll grab a Connect Four set and start playing with the kids. I tell them: "If you beat me, I’ll give you candy." And I mean the good stuff—Twix, Mars bars, chips (they love those Takis... yuck).

So we play, and they lose. Every time, they lose. No mercy, no "letting them win"—they just lose. But since they want that candy, that prize, they keep playing.

When they start to lose hope or get discouraged, I’ll finally let one of the students win. All of a sudden, everyone is back in the game, desperate to be the next winner.

The Strategy Behind the Sugar

You may be thinking: How does this help students learn? Well, I turn the game into a lesson on strategy, pattern recognition, and critical thinking. I tell them: "There are X amount of spaces. If you calculate the moves and the remaining spots, you can control the outcome. You can win by using your brain—not by chance or luck."

Think. Strategize. Calculate. I teach them to manage their pieces to control the board.

One student in particular went home and spent hours learning how to play. She became awesome. She started winning—not because I let her, but because she was actually outsmarting me. The others saw this and started asking questions (greed and desire can be highly motivating). Soon, more and more children were sitting around a Connect Four board, huddled together, discussing how to beat Mr. Medina.

The Goal is to Motivate

I will admit, there are days when getting them to focus is hard. But most of the time, the drive for candy gets the ball rolling. “Let’s play Connect Four, Mr. Medina, but I want chips today!”

The most fulfilling part of all this is when you get those few students who become so passionate about winning that they truly start to learn. They seek out the rules, the strategies, and the concepts. Since children are children, you can actually hear them talking to themselves: “If I do this, he can do this, and then that, and I’ll lose. But if I do this instead, I can…” Sometimes I even have to tell them, “Don’t tell me what you’re going to do!”

The Reward

The greatest reward is not when they win. I do love it when they yell, “Ha! I won! I told you! I beat Mr. Medina!” But what I truly find rewarding is when they start teaching each other. When they start to help one another—communicating, analyzing, and explaining the how and the why—it means they are learning. That is the ultimate goal: to get our children to want to learn. To find the fun in the challenge. Whether they realize it or not, they are expanding their minds, one "bribe" at a time.

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