Pocket Money for 12 and 16 year old

Buzzybee90

Indie_Kid wrote: »

If the "90" at the end of your name refers to your year of birth, you're a year younger than me. It was much easier to find a job as a teenager than it is now.

It doesn't, I'm younger. My brother is not much older than the OPs child and has never had an issue, neither have any of his friends. Restaurants are practically fully staffed by teens!

I'm not talking a proper job - I know those are hard to come by, but a pot wash or a waitress etc.

theoretica

I am surprised at the language used here - to 'make' or 'not let' a child get a job. Strongly encourage or discourage seems much more reasonable, especially for the late teens.

I am probably repeating myself, but one of the important things to do in childhood is learn (at appropriate times) skills for adulthood. The number of people I was at university with who hadn't learnt to cook, budget, do the laundry or minor repairs (clothes, bike punctures, tap washers...) was scary. I was really grateful I could mostly concentrate on my studies and social life without also needing to learn life skills at the same time.

I was 10 when one morning my mum forgot to hand me that afternoon's bus fare and nearly dropped me at school without. Responsibility was promptly handed to me to take it from the change pot daily, and soon when it turned out there wasn't always enough or the right coins I was given it weekly. Much easier all round than my parents doling it out daily and I wasn't going to strand myself! Other budgeting followed over the years as it became convenient, but gradually enough and in the beginning circumscribed so it wasn't a chore or a matter of concern.

Spendless

A few years back I got into conversation with a cashier at Asda, who was telling me that because all the staff at the store she worked at were required to work either Saturday or Sunday each week, they had no Saturday(weekend) jobs for kids as a result. She had teenage children and had paid for them to take a life saving course to enable them to find part-time work. Husband's godson has struggled to find part-time work to compliment his studies, many places that served alcohol didn't employ under 18s when he asked for example.

supermonkey

goodness me... some of the suggestion is here are not quite money saving.

why would a child need £40 a month for doing nothing?

I never got more than £2 a week pocket money & although I'd have wanted more, I'm also aware that it stopped me from buying rubbish. I had to think carefully and it has set me for life.

onlyroz

Wow sounds like I'm really stingy because I don't give my kids anything. I certainly wouldn't expect a child to have to buy their school uniform or pay for school lunches out of their pocket money.

When my kids reach secondary school age I think I might go with a basic pocket money of a few pounds a week which could be topped up by doing household chores.

And do people really spend £10-15 a month on a mobile phone contract for their child? My own contract is only £7 a month and I can't imagine why a child/teen would need more than that. I'm thinking that I'd get them a cheap PAYG phone when they start secondary school which could be used to contact me when they're out and about. I don't see why they'd need more than that when they have access to broadband at home.

balletshoes

onlyroz wrote: »

Wow sounds like I'm really stingy because I don't give my kids anything. I certainly wouldn't expect a child to have to buy their school uniform or pay for school lunches out of their pocket money.

When my kids reach secondary school age I think I might go with a basic pocket money of a few pounds a week which could be topped up by doing household chores.

And do people really spend £10-15 a month on a mobile phone contract for their child? My own contract is only £7 a month and I can't imagine why a child/teen would need more than that. I'm thinking that I'd get them a cheap PAYG phone when they start secondary school which could be used to contact me when they're out and about. I don't see why they'd need more than that when they have access to broadband at home.

The OP is talking about secondary-age schoolchildren though.

What parents spend on their kids is entirely up to them as far as I'm concerned - if we're getting into what they need, they don't need a phone or contract at all (and personally, I wouldn't have a contract at all for a child, mine is on payg). They don't need pocket money either, but again, families do what they feel is right for them regarding that.

Daisy_Duke_forever

As a child I never recieved any pocket money until I was 16 and my sister was 17. I got £4 per month and she got £5. Never knew why she got the extra £1, as she was away at private secondary school, so wasn't around the home as much. With this we had to buy our toiletries, which basically just covered it. Cleaning, making our beds, walking the dog were just part of my everyday life and not seen as chores to be rewarded by money for. My kids are now 4 and 5yrs old and will probably not receive pocket money for several years yet. But I agree with previous posts that providing uniform, school shoes and lunch (be that school dinner or packed lunch) is part of my responsibilities as a parent.

DiscountofMonteCristo

Certainly don't give your kids an amount based on what their friends get. This is a keeping up with the Joneses/conformist sort of attitude, in which kids basically learn to aspire to spend like rich people whether or not they can afford it. The most important question is: what can you afford? It may be that your friends' parents can afford more. Even if your kids and their friends get on well as equals it may be necessary to teach them the hard way that different people have different levels of wealth, deserved or not, as they will have to find that out soon enough once they're adult.

It is a nice idea to tie pocket money to level of help done around the house etc. However your daughter may be naturally 'lazy' WRT housework but still capable of performing well in some area of paid work, so it shouldn't be assumed that she needs to be made to improve around the house. It is still a good idea to try and encourage diligence tho. Self-discipline is one of the most important things to teach children, it's very hard to acquire later on.

Also, why pay the £12 a month mobile phone bill separately? Make them pay for that, are they going to get that free when they grow up? Oh, is there a culture of kids texting all the time, and they expect to be able to do that whether or not they're earning money to pay for it? Tough! make them learn the value of what they're using, maybe they'll learn to downsize their usage and spending, putting balancing the books before conforming to the peer group trend.

happyinflorida

I'm quite amazed at how much money people are giving to their kids.

I only got money for travel costs and lunch money. My parents always claimed to have no money. I got my first part time job at 13 and bought all my own clothes and shoes. I worked non stop, as much as I could.

When my dad died - 6 yrs ago - I discovered they'd had a lot of money, far more than they ever told me about and they had an enormous sum of money in savings. I can't tell you how much I hate them both for lying to me so much. Not just the money makes me hate them, there was a lot of other stuff too.

My kids have been given as much as I can afford - it's not a lot, but they come first. I'd always tell them if I hadn't got enough money and they have always been very understanding - never got angry even when they were small. Now they're grown up and both very sensible with money.

I believe in being 100% honest with my kids and giving them as much as I can afford - they only have one childhood so it's up to their parents to make it the best they can and to show them you love them, not just through money but tell them every day you love them - give them hugs and kisses - I do mine, they mean the world to me.

tgroom57

I'm the odd one out here, I guess.

Firstly, I agree with the poster that said early on that the mum receives a large wad of cash for raising children.

Also agree that payment for chores is unique to children living at home, no-one else gets paid for tidying up after themselves.

I did give mine 'pocket-money' - taken from the allowance I got for them- but not for doing chores. I could easily do chores.
They got the money for something I couldn't do for them - their homework. Paid on production of the marked, completed work.

Using this system and a nifty set of cdroms from Aircom, my daughter got her Maths grades up from 20% in December to better than 50% the next spring. I gave her £5 for each of the 10 tests on the cd, provided she scored more than 75%.