How do you motivate your children? TB Pesakhim 89

 From time immemorial parents have used different tricks to motivate their children to do something. Today's daf TB Pesakhim 89 gives us an example concerning Passover.

Here's how I motivated my sons to say

“MISHNA: In the case of one who says to his children: I am slaughtering the Paschal lamb on behalf of whomever of you goes up first to Jerusalem, as soon as the first of the children has entered his head and the majority of his body into Jerusalem, he has acquired his portion and acquires on behalf of his brothers their portions together with him.” (Sefaia.org translation) You might have thought this was the third attempt in three days to prove that one may retroactively join a registered group

(חבורה) in order to partake in the korban Pesakh. The Gemara deflects this possibility.

“Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The mishna is not based on retroactive clarification. Rather, the father included all his children in his Paschal lamb from the outset. He created this competition only in order to enthuse them, so that they would be expeditious in their fulfillment of mitzvot; but in fact his statement had no halakhic implications.”(Sefaia.org translation)

 Here's how I motivated my boys to say Grace after meals. Ever since 1987 I been collecting comic books. When I was living in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, every Friday I would go to Bob's Hobbies and pick up my weekly order. My boys would leave our Shabbat table before Grace after meals to read those books. Obviously, I wasn't happy with the situation. So I decided to rule that nobody can read these comic books until after we finished Grace after meals. It worked. My sons were very enthused to say Grace after meals.

Another thing that doesn't change is the fact that many times girls are more motivated than boys. “That the competition was meant only to enthuse his children to be expeditious in their fulfillment of mitzvot was also implied by that which was taught in the conclusion of a baraita that also records this competition: There was an incident such as this, and the daughters preceded the sons. And it turned out that the daughters demonstrated that they were enthusiastic, whereas the sons demonstrated that they were lazy.” (Sefaia.org translation)