Make her earn it . Ask her to get great grades , and you will reward her an iPad end of the semester (or whatever you call it in your country) (:

And if she does anything in a bad behaviour or does something stupid and starts to fail again , take it off her until she improves . I don't have kids at all , let alone not married , but if I had kids this is a method I would use to keep my kids getting good grades and all sides win .

Your suggestion has one major flaw: iPads cost hundreds of dollars. Not every parent can afford to give their kid one just because they're doing good in school. When I was a kid I got a new beanie baby if my report card was good. Not a freaking $500 tablet.

Times have changed. I recall only receiving a dollar per A. But my family was far from well off.

My father gave me $5 for every A. but charged me for every B ($2), C ($3). And I was wayyyy too frighened to get anything lower than a C ever. Most report cards, I got like $13.

I am aware of how pricy these tablets and smart phones can be , but in Australia you get them for free if you sign up a 1 or 2 year contract with a service company and only pay for their service . That's how I afforded my iPhone 4 s including my iPad at the age of 17 , and I was just a simple administrator at a College . And besides it's just my opinion , I don't have kids so I wouldn't know exactly what to do or anything .

education apps on smartphones are available. my little sister (she's 4) uses our tablets/iPads to learn to count and spell. so the generation may not necessarily be "dumbed down" if they and their parents/teachers take advantage of these apps

#16: I disagree. I know there are downsides to technology, but getting "dumbed down" isn't necessarily one of them. The future is going to have lots of technology, and I think the kids need to prepare for that. Smartphones do wonders, and if the kids are taught how to use them to their advantage, then they shall be able to do fine in school. Although I am slightly worried about the literate part. I hope they don't get too accustomed to text language and whatnot.

To the three people who responded, there is also this fancy invention called a "book" that's very useful for learning...

actually Perdix I believe texhnology is one of the most educational tools ever created, it's just a matter of how you use it. Hopefully with discipline and responsibilty to our future generations, we can use technology the proper way to the full benefit of learning.

you broke a Nokia? HOW?

Oh my gawd... the gaming systems. My kids are like "poo on phones, we want a consol." Phones are more My and My husband's thing so by kids logic 'they arent really all that awesome. Look I can read a book or play Angry Birds StarWars2 on a Nook... can I has?' They said "can I has?" to mock me. lol

A lot of kids also get hand-me-down phones. Dad gets a new phone, his old one goes to one of the kids. Things like that. It's not like it's always brand spanking new with unlimited talk and text and internets.

I like that you called it internets. But I like the interwebz moar.

I never thought about that, but next time I volunteer at my kid's school, I will look. Probably all have $120 air jordans, while getting free lunches.