Aibu to offer my daughter money incentives for good gcse grades?

[Whatsmyname26]

My daughter is just starting to do some GCSEs with her first exam later this year. She is sitting them early and achieving well (looking at a level 5/6 atm) but I would like to encourage her to reach for the higher grades and remember children being given money incentives for different grades when I did my exams. Has anyone done this? Did it help encourage them to work harder to achieve higher marks? If so how much per top grade? She is only sitting one gcse this year and currently looking to sit another either November this year or next June.

Does a reward help incentivise them or should they just work because they should? I should point out she is autistic too.

So can teens not work for money either

Kids can work either officially or unofficially (money for chores/odd jobs).

That’s not the same as monetising their educational achievements.

I'd offer money for doing her best.

My parents gave me £20 for a C, £30 for a B, £75 for an A, £125 for A*

I was expected to get B&C grades so I think they budgeted a couple hundred quid and I don't think they realised I did 13 GCSE's either.

I got majority A* & A and they were gob smacked, the money came in hand for my first car.

I was massively boosted by the reward just make sure you can afford. However I don't understand why you would put her through examinations a couple of years early for no other reason than a vanity project.

Just caught up with the thread

My sisters and I were rewarded for effort rather than results, we got totally different results but they were all the best we could have achieved

While we were studying we would get a bar of chocolate, our favourite meal for tea etc every so often

After the exams and before we got the results we all got to choose a 2 day/1 night activity with either parent - a reward for all of the effort and a celebration that exams were over

Eldest DSis went to a spa hotel with DM and felt very grown up

Middle DSis went to a theme park for 2 days and stayed in a hotel locally with DDad

I went to London with DM and did a tour, went to the theatre etc

On results day we all went for a meal to celebrate the person who had taken the exams, and that their hard work had paid off (didn't matter if they were Ds etc, if that was the best that person could hope for) and they got to choose the restaurant

It made us work hard, we weren't downhearted comparing results, and we knew that after all the hard work we would get a break, a chance to relax. The little chocolate bars, favourite meals etc kept us going when we were flagging and showed that our hard work was being recognised

Oh, and we always got a book for a good parents evening, right the way through school. It was a little reward for good behaviour and putting the effort in, and also educational as it got us reading. It made my eldest DSis enjoy books more because they were seen as a reward, something to aim for etc. We got books for birthdays etc but we were always excited to go and choose our book after parents evening, especially me as I have always been a bookworm

I do the parents evening book thing with my DC and will probably do the same as my DPs did when they get to exam stage, things may change in the meantime but I plan to at the moment. Either way I will be rewarding the effort and not the results, I would with one DC, but especially if you have multiple (as I do) as they aren't all going to achieve the same grades no matter how hard they try

Sorry I think it’s a horrible idea, teenagers are under so much pressure to do well in their GCSEs and are so stressed. If she doesn’t get the grade you’ve offered the money for she is going to feel she’s failed

TBH I am against incentives for good grades, because really you want to give the idea that your parents will love and support you no matter what grades you get. So extra £ for good grades doesn't sit well with me.

I think it’s a terrible idea.

Also, she’s far too young to be sitting GCSEs whether it be “for fun” or “for practise”.

You say she is autistic, you have to consider the impact that the exam pressure and the added “money pressure” may have on her. This could affect how she performs in the exam and result in lower grades, which you will then give a lower amount of money for which she could see in a negative way.

I’m loving the 5 year old Wayne Rooney wannabe - already obsessed with money... sounds about right for a pro footballer his mamma obviously wants to be a MAG (mums and grans).