Do most of people promise their children cash payments in exchange for good GCSE grades?

[Theodoraalways]

My son has been coming home from school recently talking about his friends getting £100 payment for each grade 9 in their upcoming GCSE….not only that, he has been harassing me relentlessly about me paying him, too. The only response I get from him when asking why should anyone pay their child to do well in school at any time is that “everyone does it!” and so should I!
He has predicted 9’s in all his 10 GCSE subjects and has been found to be exceptionally talented in all his subjects by his teachers since he started secondary grammar school. That is what makes it even more shocking for me that someone so highly intelligent (he has chosen to test his IQ through school in Year 8 and the result was 162) could be putting monetary value to his efforts in school.
He is our only child and has been loved and looked after unlike many unfortunate children I read about. We do go on holiday every summer to Italy or Greece for 5-6 weeks, stay in luxury accommodation (villa or apartment), he has several hobbies outside school which we pay for, we always bought him masses of presents for his birthdays and Christmas, lots of books throughout the year, we try to install decent human values into him, we saved nicely for him into his Child Trust Fund account, he has never wanted for anything - we bought him most of the things he asked for over the years….
Am I wrong in thinking that no child should be promised money in order to succeed in school? I cry when I read some young people saying to their parents they do not wish any money for their grades, it is their achievement that motivates them…Am I wrong in thinking we should be celebrating his achievements by buying him a present and going out for a meal, rather than be putting a price for his grades in advance?

We will celebrate with DS on results day and we are proud of how hard he has worked throughout Y10-11 but no cash for grades. His reward for doing well is he gets to progress to A-levels and then university.

Why’s it different to paying for private school- you’re paying in the hope of achieving better grades. If the outcome is better grades who cares?!
i imagine I would reward a good study ethic rather than the result itself- seems too much pressure otherwise.

Shocked at the answers here.

I had a reward and my daughter will have a reward for all things we are happy or proud she has done/will do.

I think there's plenty of confused thinking at play here. We tell kids to work hard so they can get good jobs and earn lots of money - but then we're surprised that they want some money for doing well. Reap what you sow I think.

The concept of 'paying' children for efforts and/or results takes away their own motivation.

Our children will feel much prouder if they achieve their goals and reap the rewards in terms of University course or dream job. That's their reward! Not parents 'paying' them.

Ha! No way. We gave our two children some gifts after their GCSE and A level results but they were never a carrot.

Iirc we paid for flights to post A level group European holidays for both of them.

They probably got £50 from us after GCSEs just because we wanted them to be able to go out and celebrate the end of exam season with their friends.

Our children outstripped our paying power by quite some margin if a 9 at GCSE is worth £100!

That's quite funny whoever dreamed that up.

Why’s it different to paying for private school- you’re paying in the hope of achieving better grades. If the outcome is better grades who cares?!
That was my thinking, a little cash encouragement certainly didn’t do any harm and my DC slightly outperformed their privately educated cousins.

Nope, Iv told mine their reward is them getting a good job and earning money to treat themselves. I couldn’t afford to even if I did want to tbh

We tell them to work/learn hard so they have better career options - a fulfilling career does not at all mean a highly paid job. A fulfilling job is much more important imo.

I've literally never heard of this as a thing. And my kids never mentioned it to me either but reading back through the thread it seems to be quite common - I honestly thought it was a joke!

Thank God (once again) for comprehensive schools in unleafy South East London.

Good for you, but I wasn't talking about you

Absolutely not. It’s their future and that’s their reward!

No from me to reward per grade but I will give little rewards like money to go shopping or do something nice with friends after mocks or if working hard.

I was promised £5 for every A or A. In the end I got a £5 for every C and above as after my mocks I was predicted to fail them all! Got an A, 2 As, 4 Bs, 3 Cs and a D in the end

No way, my dd, did a levels last year, which we thought would never happen, also now at university, yes she worked her butt off, we gave her a card and cake, was so v v proud , to be honest money not an issue, v lucky, but it never came into it, she would never ask, she got a pt McDonald’s job from June, even though she wasn’t made too.
bloody hell, I’m shocked

I did. She was straight a or a star anyways, so I did it as an incentive and reward /recognition for her work. I think if you can afford it it’s a nice thing to do.

Yes, but a tenner per A or A*, not hundreds! It's really just a show of congratulations, nothing more than that.

I never got this, and would never do it for my kids. They should be congratulated for trying their best regardless of outcome

That doesn’t surprise me. I’ve heard the same phrased slightly differently (pay can demotivate but doesn’t motivate). From just this thread alone, it seems lots of people instinctively agree that it doesn’t actually motivate. However lots of businesses hold onto the concept so it’s not surprising it filters down to parenting teenagers.

My kids got a meal out the night of the lady exam and a well done on results day, same for a levels and degree

Did your parents give you money?

Or is this a recent trend?

I rewarded DD for the effort she put into revision and prep not what for grade she would achieve.She did phenomenally well,that was it's own reward

Very true!

I did with my oldest one , think I was frustrated he was clever and not working to the best of his ability so of course I then had to do it for the next 2 .

We have performance related pay at work. Is it really any different? If it works, does it matter? Id rather my teens were bribed and did well than learnt the hard way to be honest. DS needed it - it helped with his adhd. Don’t think DD will but of course will get it for fairness.

It worked with DS pulling him from C grades at mocks to A stars at GCSE 🤷🏻‍♀️ He then learned that if he concentrated and worked hard he could do well and was more internally motivated for A level.

Our proviso was that he put it towards something important- he chose a nice laptop for college.