"It's not fair," I thought to myself as I watched the $5 bill pass from one hand to the other.
It wasn't that I didn't understand. I did. We were very different kids. While school came easy for me, he struggled. He had to work twice as hard as everyone else due to learning disabilities and lots of physical challenges. But, still. It wasn't fair.
$5 for that lone "A" on his report card.
I had "A" after "A" after "A" on mine. Yet, I sat there empty-handed. I didn't get rewarded for my grades because those grades were expected. Anything less was considered a failure.
In my brother's case, failure was expected. Anything above that was reason to celebrate.
Alexis has no comparison. The age gap means she won't ever look over at Mila and wonder why she is or is not rewarded for grades. She doesn't seem to know that some kids get money for good grades or that parents far and wide are trying to figure out the magic formula for encouraging their kids to try harder.
She gets "A" after "A" on her report card. It's expected. It's so expected that when she once had a 96% in Reading, I emailed her teacher. "She's slipping because she's bored. Make it harder for her." The email worked and Alexis shot up to a 100% again in no time.
Is it fair that Alexis gets nothing for good grades other than a verbal "Good job" and such? Or should we be doing something? $5 per "A" isn't happening unless we opt to give up dinner for a week, but what is reasonable?
What do you do, smart people who live in my computer?