Good behaviour pays

I have hit upon a great way to incentivise my children to cycle everywhere – pay them.

Yesterday we went to the cinema and there were three choices as to how to get there: walk or cycle, both of which are free, or take the bus which would cost £4.40 return for all of us.

My children are now six and eight and are developing an understanding of how much things cost, therefore they knew that to take the bus meant no popcorn.
Funnily enough they picked cycling as our mode of transport.

On the way to the cinema this concept developed in to a discussion about how much it costs to travel to school.

Mostly we cycle the two miles there unless I have a job to get to immediately afterwards. Sometimes though, children being children, we sneak the odd school-run in when they have just not got their act together in time and there is lots of screaming in the house about being late.

Using the car mileage allowance that my company pays me, I told the children that it costs £1.60 to run them to school and back in the car.
This seemed to get their attention, because alongside their understanding of how much things cost has recently come the notion of pocket money!

Husband and I will soon be having the discussion with them of how much they can earn and for what.
I have decided that they can earn 10% of the travel cost each for every time they cycle to and from school, with the rest going towards the family holiday.
They love cycling anyway but I’m all for rewarding good behaviour.

There are a rare few good companies who do the same with their employees and pay an allowance for cycling as well as driving, its just a shame that more don’t.

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