Bribery as the necessary evil

So I've come to the conclusion that Ashley is not going to be, by any stretch of the imagination, the next female David Beckham. Oh sure, she could rival him in the "style" arena, or the need for public attention, and God only knows she would love even a small percentage of the modeling contracts he gets, but she definitely won't be making her millions stepping out onto the soccer field. Not to say that she doesn't have many other wonderful talents, it's just that soccer is not really her "thing". But both Jeff and I feel it's important at this age that she play an organized sport to learn teamwork, respect for coaches, how to deal when things don't go your way, and responsibility, to name a few. So we continue to sign her up, go to weekly practices, and schlep over to the soccer fields, sometimes even for an 8am game time.

So to get her energized and excited for her games, we have started the bribery route. "If you play hard and run fast, we'll go for ice cream"..."If you score a goal, we'll buy you a Webkinz"..."If you try your hardest and focus, we'll go bowling". Most of the time it works, and we've been able to coax some pretty good effort from her. I am, however, a little scared about what kind of precedent we are setting for all future endeavors. I don't want her thinking that there is going to be a prize for trying hard. I want her inner spirit to make her hungry for the challenge, and her need for accomplishment to be her motivation. Hopefully that will be true in other aspects of her life, but I'm thinking with soccer, not so much.

But boy, doesn't she look great in her uniform? And red really is her color.