Pocket Money for 12 and 16 year old

emsywoo123

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

16 year old - nothing.
12 year old - £20 a month for treats?

Wait, why nothing for the 16 year old?!

74jax

IrishRose12 wrote: »

Hold on so some people make their children pay for their own school lunches, uniforms, coats, clothes in general and basically the basic things a child needs growing up??:eek:
Is that not the parents JOB and what they get Child allowance for??
.

We don't qualify for child allowance anymore due to or income, but when we did it just went straight to DD. She wanted her lunch money in a lump sum as some days she might have wanted to spend £4 and other days just £1. She got all her money once a month. She bought her clothes from that too. It worked really well for us, and DD would rather it was the same now, we changed due to me. She might have wanted 60p for the bus and so had to use her card to take a tenner out of the bank, she had no problems with this, but I just thought 'oooo I'll give her the 60p'.

In the end I suggested going back to £20 a week and I buy her clothes bus etc . I spend much more on her now do it totally defeats what I was trying to do....:rotfl:.

Nadstar

Surely it depends what you expect them to do with it?

My daughter is slightly younger than the OP's children but to use two extremes - if she is only expected to buy a magazine/sweets then £5 is easily enough. If on the other hand, she is expected to budget for extracurricular activities/lunch at school then the very minimum that she would need is £70 pw (Not including the magazine and sweet mentioned above!)

Both parties need a really clear idea of expectations, who will be buying what and what they are expected to do to be given it!

Imdaewen

Interesting, I never used to get a set amount of pocket money or rewarded for chores. My 'pocket money' used to be the change from Lunch Money or any pennies found behind the sofa and then saved into my teddy bear piggy bank. I was given £50 from my sister to pay for a couple of driving lessons, I never got any money from my parents for driving lessons - neither did any of my brother or sister. But then again my parents were in a poverty trap, if they received a small pay rise then it would have taken them over the limit for benefits and we would have been worse off, I also missed out on a few school trips etc because we had to pay for it as we was not eligible for the reduced rate.

The only extra money I received was for walking the vets dogs. And as for Mobile Phone (which I had late secondary school as they were only just becoming popular) I had a bright orange 'brick' on PayG and that was funded with birthday money. It was a hand me down phone too, they didn't buy it. Any phones after that I bought with my own money.

When I started work I paid for my mums bus ticket in exchange for sandwiches (on-top of housekeeping.)

I kinda wish my mum was able to pay for extra curricular activities. I would have loved to have learned to play a musical instrument or gone to something active. But she did buy loads of books - I loved books!

At the moment for my kid, (she is only 5 mths) I am saving up for her, I don't want the excuse of lack of money to get in the way of things she wants to do or to be left behind on school trips.

SternMusik

IrishRose12 wrote: »

Hold on so some people make their children pay for their own school lunches, uniforms, coats, clothes in general and basically the basic things a child needs growing up??:eek:
Is that not the parents JOB and what they get Child allowance for??

I second this. From the age of about 14 I got a larger amount each month (approx. £70 in today's money) from which I bought clothes, shoes, cinema tickets, treats, books/CDs, any gifts etc. But I never had to pay for lunches, public transport (I had a season ticket), music lessons, school trips and such which were always covered by my mum. I loved having my own monthly budget, and it certainly taught me to be careful with money. Should say that I did help with chores, shopping, cooking etc.

I also worked in my mum's business from the age of 14 and earned extra money through that which mostly went into savings.

Money for lunch, clothes and school bus should never be connected to doing chores IMO. They are the basics we have to provide for our children.

Regarding the OP, I'd say it depends on how much you cover for your children in terms of socialising and leisure activities. I'd be inclined to give the 16 year-old more control over what she wants to spend on and when she wants to buy it.

Also, most important rule for pocket money is that if the money's been spent then that's it until the next month.

Indie_Kid

Nadstar wrote: »

Surely it depends what you expect them to do with it?

My daughter is slightly younger than the OP's children but to use two extremes - if she is only expected to buy a magazine/sweets then £5 is easily enough. If on the other hand, she is expected to budget for extracurricular activities/lunch at school then the very minimum that she would need is £70 pw (Not including the magazine and sweet mentioned above!)

£70 pw seems like a lot to me. I was given about £20 a week until 6th form. Out of that, I had to pay for things like clothes, deodoratn and everything else I needed. (had packed lunch; so needed no lunch money)

barbarawright

I am genuinely baffled at how you can give one child pocket money and nothing at all to the other.

moomoomama27

barbarawright wrote: »

I am genuinely baffled at how you can give one child pocket money and nothing at all to the other.

Im not! If she refuses to do anything to help, and pocket money is based around that, why would the child be given it?

Nadstar

Indie_Kid wrote: »

£70 pw seems like a lot to me. I was given about £20 a week until 6th form. Out of that, I had to pay for things like clothes, deodoratn and everything else I needed. (had packed lunch; so needed no lunch money)

But that is my point, £70 would only just be enough to cover her various clubs and lunch at school - I I want her to be able to budget for clubs/lunches (As well as clothes/bathroom bits) then I need to give her enough to cover it. No point in me giving her £20 then telling her to pay for clubs and lunch knowing that she will need at least another £50 to do so - Someone commented above that they made a list with who would pay for what - a really good idea - Presumably they made sure it was do-able when they decided what they gave their child.

It is the same debate as "What should my child pay in rent" - Too many variables in standards and circumstance for there to actually be an answer

daisiegg

emsywoo123 wrote: »

Wait, why nothing for the 16 year old?!

Presumably as 16 is old enough for a part time job? This is the way it worked in my family. We all found pt work as soon as old enough and money from parents stopped.