To Bribe DS.

[TooBigForMyBoots]

Having got into a panic about DS's GCSEs tonight, I've offered him a bribe.

C = £10
B = £20
A = £50

YANBU to have opted for LCD parenting.
YABU to not have tried other options first.

I bribe for effort grades on his report but not attainment grades.

could he actually achieve an A that's the question, you've now put a price on his grades if he can't achieve that then i think you've been really mean

I'm 10 weeks from GCSEs and desperate @Cocopogo.

The main reason I'd be wary is that extrinsic motivation leads to calculated effort to maximise reward, which might not align perfectly with where you'd like the effort to be put. For example, improving three subjects from a D up to a C would gain him the same amount as improving one subject from a B up to an A. Getting a B up to an A might be less effort, but you might consider getting those 3 Ds up to a C to be more important.

you are aware resits are a thing though right

Some kids aren't capable of attaining those grades, why add to the feelings of failure and low self worth. Award on effort 100 percent but not attainment. You'd have been better paying him to revise for so many hours per week.

It's awful to bribe based on achievement, gives the message that only high achievers are worth something.

We tried this, we offered £100 for every A. They could've taken us to the cleaners. It made no difference whatsoever.

I would be wary too. If he's capable of getting all A's he'll probably pass most of them anyway, if he's more of a C/ D student I think you're confirming that his worth is in his exam grades and he should be doing better.

I'd possibly reward for revision though.

Why not? I see nothing wrong with it.

My mum did this for me (a long time ago!) and it worked a treat. I got 9 As, raked it in. I was lazy but capable, she definitely knew how to motivate me to change my coasting B/C grades to "putting the work in" As!

I don’t have a problem with this, it emulates how the real world works, you don’t get paid more for working hard but for being high achieving.

He's in the B/C range. I'm hoping he pulls this up into a couple of As and Bs.

Only on Mumsnet are GCSEs at B/C not deemed worthy.

OP, give him a tenner for everything above a 4

In 1976 dad offered me £10 for an A, £5 for a B. Nothing for a C. 🤣
I got £80 out of him which was a lot back then. That was O levels.

I think it puts additional pressure, not the idea of trying to get the money but the niggly not good enough feeling.

Reward them after the event if you want, but you can't pay for results.

Are you going to use current grades? 9-1? An A = 9,8,7 etc?

Didn’t As and Bs get phased out a few years ago?

I'm not in England. We still operate on ABCs.

Fair enough, apologies.

As long as you feel he's capable of A's I'd go for it.

I did this but slightly differently. I offered £10 for every actual gcse that was higher than his mock grade. If he got a 6 in his mock snd a 7 in his final exam he got £10. If he got an 8 he got £20.
it worked best on the grades he was around a 4 in. He bumped all of them up to at least a 5 and got £100 out of me!

I've looked at DS's predicted grades, had a conversation with him about what he realistically thinks is achievable but also will require effort to achieve, and based my bribes on that. So they are individual for each subject. Feels kinder and more personal. I see nothing wrong with a bit of bribery though.

Nothing wrong with this. My ex gave DS £5000 for 9x9’s, but he’d have got them regardless. I gave him an Apple Watch plus 1k for 3 x A*’s for A level. The moneys towards Uni - so would have probably given it anyway but nice to reward for hard work. If I felt my kids needed that encouragement I’d offer per grade.