I know we give incentives for people to have kids, which is messed up, but why don't we give incentives for other things? I started a thread in the education section asking about how we could encourage parents to teach their kids to value education. Could incentives do that? Could we give tax breaks for parents whose kids do well in school? It would be hard. People would scream about those who don't have kids. There would have to be some way to make it fair to reward and promote parents who encourage their kids. It might be easier to promote health. We have an obesity problem, and it is costing American's a fortune. Instead of forcing kids to eat horrible lunches or banning soft drinks, why not make an incentive for people who are at or near a healthy BMI. Again, people will scream about people who can't work out. Incentives are tricky, but aren't they better than banning things? If we could promote our children's success and health, it would seem to worth the effort to make it work.
