Pocket money (merged)

onlyroz

I give my 4-year-old £2 a week. I thought about giving him less but there's not much you can get for less than a pound these days. Today he spent about £1.20 on pick-n-mix, and the rest will prob be spent on sweets during the week.

Errata

My niece lived 3 doors away from me and as soon as she was 5 I gave her 50p every Saturday morning to sort my weekly wash into whites, coloureds and darks. It made her feel very grown up and trusted.

BitterAndTwisted

onlyroz wrote: »

I give my 4-year-old £2 a week. I thought about giving him less but there's not much you can get for less than a pound these days. Today he spent about £1.20 on pick-n-mix, and the rest will prob be spent on sweets during the week.

I would have thought that giving very young children an extremely modest amount would be the whole point, really. Then, they have no choice but to save for what they want. Having money for all the sweets the heart desires isn't really helping, in my opinion.

How much pick-n-mix would £1.20 buy these days any way?

savingmummy

onlyroz wrote: »

I give my 4-year-old £2 a week. I thought about giving him less but there's not much you can get for less than a pound these days. Today he spent about £1.20 on pick-n-mix, and the rest will prob be spent on sweets during the week.

I wouldn`t let my dd use it on sweets - especially £1+:eek:

retro_bluebell

My 2 older ones (10 and 12) get 2.00 a week each, but they also get 10.00 each on their mobiles but they are generally good with them so only need that every 2 months and we pay for their groups, school trips etc seperate from this. They have to work for it though, they have daily chores simple things like making their beds, putting their washing away and feeding the pets...I have done this for a few years (at lower amounts) I want them to understand that you need to work for your money not just have it handed to you for doing nothing....I might sound harsh but it seems to be working my eldest has asked if he can do a paper round or something to top it up....not sure if I want him to do that yet so I have said he can help round the house more if he wants more money, cue both boys now want to load the washing machine do the dishes and hoover the house. Maybe that could be seen as just child labour? lol

ETA that my youngest is 4 next month and I have no intention of starting pocket money with her yet she is happy when I give her 2p to play with and put in her little purse lol

pusscat

2 Step Kids

Up until the oldest went to secodary school they just got some pocket money to spend each time they saw their Dad (every other weekend), I am guessing a couple of pounds but once they were 12 and 10 ish we started a system of an "allowance".

The allowance was (I think!) £10 a month in the early days - we opened them bank accounts and put the money in by dd on the first of the month - they had to learn to budget the money over the month. They NEVER got a sub or upfront money - if they did not have the money then they had to wait.

The ammount moved up to £15 when they were mid teens and to £20 and finally to £25 as it is now. The oldest stopped getting his once he left college and got a job, the youngest still gets it (she is 16 and still at school) Once they got to 12(I think) the bank lets them have a cash card.
One thing to remember is that they can only draw £10 notes out of a cashpoint - so they also had a piggy bank at home for the rest of the money they took out!

They also each had a mobile phone paid for and a limited number of minutes on it - this was far more because their Mum would not allow them to talk to their Dad from her phones - and when he phoned them he was often not allowed to talk to them, and when he was their conversations were monitored so they would feel very uncomfortable. We still pay the youngests mobile bill as she lives 2/3 at her Mums still. The oldest pays his own now, but he lives with us anyway.

Puss
xx

WASHER

I started pm at the age of 7 with my children (both children got £10 per month until the age of 10). My DD is 12 and gets £20 per month and my DS 11 get £15 per month. They top up phones with this and buy bits and pieces, although my DD is a saver. It will go up by £5 per birthday until they are 16.

It has really helped my children understand the value of money and budgeting.

I do not give them pocket money in their hands, but by standing order into a bank account, they both have debit cards (barclays have an account for children from the age of 11, they cannot go overdrawn either) and it saves them withdrawing too much money out of the bank if they want to buy something for a fiver in a shop using the debit card.

Mollymop5

My 7yr old gets £1.50.To earn this she put's her clean washing away, keeps her room tidy and behaves respectfully to me and others.Any problems with the rules then she has money taken away.She has to save the £1 and the 50p goes in her spends jar.more often than not though she swaps saved up 50ps so she can add the pond to her save jar.She spent 311 in asda last week and still has £25 in her jar.it makes her think about aking for things when she knows she has to pay.
My 16yr old gets £5 per week for doing the same, nipping to the local shop when asked and emptying bins.often though he lets me do all his jobs so i tell him i'm keeping the money.He can manage weeks without any spends!

DaisyFlower

Not planning on starting pocket money until high school age as we buy all DS's needs and treats so he really doesnt have the need for pocket money. The only time he really needs it is for school trips where they can take some money for the shops.

At high school age, I plan to teach him budgeting by giving him his CB and letting him fund his own cinema, bowling, fashion labels etc but we'll buy basic clothes and uniform etc.

dizziblonde

I use it quite often to give some data to practise data-handling in KS2 numeracy lessons (mainly when I get sick of the "favourite food" "favourite animal" graphs). Generally answers range from about £3 a week up to a tenner (if you include in obliging grandparents) - the kids at the upper end will happily tell you about conditions attached to it, the kids at the lower end tell you how mum/dad cover X Y and Z instead of giving them extra cash - the kids are actually quite mature and fair discussing what they get.