Should you punish your children for bad grades?

“I got a C…” I quietly admitted to my parents as I stepped inside the house.

“On your test?” my dad asked.
“Yeah, I studied a lot, but it was really hard” I answered, as I settled down into the
comfy chair in the living room.
“Oh…” my mom said sadly as she enveloped me in a hug. “That’s ok.”
My dad smiled and nodded his head along in agreement. “Shit happens.”
I smiled back weakly, but inside, I felt a tremor. I felt pain.
I was never one to slack off at school. I cared about school and I wanted to do better.
And that grade did affect me.
And my parents cared just as much as me about my performance in school, if not
more. But they knew I was motivated, and they knew that punishing me, blaming
me, or even demotivating me would work counterintuitively.
They never put me down for a bad grade and they never pressured me to do well.
They taught me how to enjoy learning and they encouraged me to like school.
And sure, bad grades happened once in a while. But just as my dad had said to me
that day, shit happens.
Don’t punish your children for bad grades.
Instead, encourage them to love school.
Don’t make the grades the goal.