To give a cash reward to the twin who gets the best GCSE results?

[Stackss]

DS and DD are both in year 11 so have their GCSEs coming up shortly. Both are bright and of very similar if not identical academic ability and are predicted very similar grades.

Both are relatively hard working (although with a tendency to coast) but DH and I would really like them to knuckle down and push themselves to get the best grades possible.

We therefore came up with the idea of an effort-based reward scheme allowing them to earn treats for completing revision- e.g. 75 hours= a meal out, 150 hours= a night away etc.

However, both twins have suggested that instead, the twin who gets the best results should receive the whole cash reward. They are both competitive with each other and have said this would give them greater incentive to work harder.

My concern is that the twin who doesn't do as well will be doubly disappointed on results day as they will also get no reward. Should I go with the twins' suggestion?

Terrible idea . My twins knew that we reward effort not results

This is an awful, awful idea. Do not do it.

Jesus! What a totally stupid idea!

We rewarded effort rather than grades and Ds1 got a much wanted gift after his exams but before his GCSE results were out.

However, if they are motivated by cash then use that but not to the detriment of the other child. You could set grades or revision although you can "revise" for 4 hours and it not be productive. I was able to help Ds with testing him, he had online apps that also tested him, he resat past papers for revision so we could see that he was revising effectively if that makes sense, rather than just reading through notes etc.

It's a terrible idea.

When I did my GCSE’s my dad said he would give me an amount of cash per grade - I don’t remember how much but it was an incentive to do better to get more cash!
I think that’s a kinder way of doing it. They can still see who can get the most money but they both get something.

No it is a bad idea to have only one of the twin get a reward especially if they both try their best. Why not set it up a reward chart for example if they get between 65 -80 % they get £ 2 per subject 81 - 90% £ 5 over 90% £ 20.

It sounds as if they are set fair to progress to A-levels, and then university. How do you move up a notch from GCSE's if this precedent is set? Expensive, with vicious sibling rivalry and resentment as an extra bonus?

This is also a bad idea (sorry). Reward effort and determination. Help them set smart targets and reward them for the revision goals they meet (not necessarily money). Discuss their goals and strategies with them, focus on metacognition and reflection: what went well and why? What could they change next time? Why? How?

What didn't work? How do they know that strategy A was better than strategy B, and what strategies would they apply next time?

Give them a present at the end of it all if you want to

They aren't identical twins so don't have same genetics.
They may well have different teachers.
They may not have even chosen all the same subjects (OP hasn't said).

Awful, awful, awful idea.

Your rewards for revision hours completed are also somewhat ridiculous. Time revising doesn’t mean effective revision. I used to be a teacher and so many kids spent hours staring at a textbook taking absolutely nothing in.

My DM gave my brother (one year older) £50 for each GCSE he passed. I then got nothing the next year because she couldn’t afford it and because she said I’d have worked hard anyway. Even though I’d done much better than my brother, I was made to feel like shit. Imagine how shit I’d have felt if I’d actually done worse.

My DD isn't at GCSE yet but I think it's a great idea. Life rewards results not effort - learning that now will help them in the future.

Find it odd so many are against it given the number of threads I read about parents making kids sit 11+ and multiple selective private school exams etc 🤷‍♀️

I wouldn’t and I have twins who are bright but only seven so this sort of thing hasn’t quite come up.

If they want cash fair enough. Work out what you are prepared to spend divide by two and then number of subjects. Top grades get full amount for each subject. Then you can either have a sliding scale or for that competitive element if they don’t get As or whatever grade then money will go into a winners pot. If they are bright they will both get decent grades in multiple subjects. So winners pot will be relatively small.

Make 2 badges:

"Prince Harry"
"Prince William"

Hand them out on results day. That'll stay in their heads for life.

Awful idea

Why not just set an amount per grade. So they’ll both get something, and can both get decent (and similar) amounts if they both do well. One doing slightly better then the other won’t have a massive impact on what they receive etc. Rather than winner takes all

I agree about rewarding results and not effort though

Effort that doesn’t translate to results is worthless in life (although obviously effort is required to get results!)

BAD IDEA!!

You need to teach them to work hard for their OWN sense of accomplishment NOT external reward.

You need to teach them to support each other, not compete with each other.

if you persist in bribing them to work, they'll never learn to be self motivated. A levels/Uni... when will you stop?!

additionally paying them for the time they 'study' ?!?! WTAF? How the hell would you even know what they were doing? I was brilliant at appearing to study, whilst actually doing other things (no tech then really, but I was great at decorating my books/generally titting about!).

They're boy-girl twins… they can't be monozygotic/identical. They're no more genetically similar than any other brother and sister.

Anyone paying for results is a shit parent. Sorry to be blunt but you are employing really shit techniques that harm your kids.

I gave £100 for every 9 received.

Terrible, terrible idea

I’d also reward the effort rather than the results anyway

Absolutely not.

I gave £100 for every 9 received Shit parenting!

I got a small gift from my parents for working hard for each thing - GCSEs as a whole, then A levels - and I planned to be the same. Worth about £30, so add inflation to that sort of figure.The results are a reward in themselves!

I am not being dramatic when I say that is possibly the worst OP I’ve read on here for a long time.

You can’t be serious can you? You think this is acceptable? Can’t you just reward them both for effort. Clearly one is going to feel like a massive failure over the other. I think if they are both at GCSE age and you think this is acceptable parenting I imagine there have been some catastrophic failings that have happened already.

Good luck to your twins they’ll need a good therapist in a few years I should imagine.