Pocket Money for 12 and 16 year old

Buzzybee90

tgroom57 wrote: »

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%.

I had friends at school that were rewarded for money for GCSEs, they got about £100 for mediocre grades. I totted it up once and I'd have got about £450 :rotfl:

74jax

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

I had friends at school that were rewarded for money for GCSEs, they got about £100 for mediocre grades. I totted it up once and I'd have got about £450 :rotfl:

I have said to DD she can have money for grades too. Nothing for a C but £50 for B and £100 for an A.

It's had a dramatic effect on her. She handed one coursework in and got an E. I told her the figures and she took it back, redid it and got an A* It's infuriating as she is bright, just isn't one for schoolwork.... Unless she's got a chance of some money it seems .

Buzzybee90

74jax wrote: »

I have said to DD she can have money for grades too. Nothing for a C but £50 for B and £100 for an A.

It's had a dramatic effect on her. She handed one coursework in and got an E. I told her the figures and she took it back, redid it and got an A* It's infuriating as she is bright, just isn't one for schoolwork.... Unless she's got a chance of some money it seems .

How much for a B and A*?

tgroom57

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

I had friends at school that were rewarded for money for GCSEs, they got about £100 for mediocre grades. I totted it up once and I'd have got about £450 :rotfl:

I received a tiny gold charm for each of my A grades at O level.

GobbledyGook

Although mine are still primary school age I can't see me being able to do money for grades when they are older. Of my two DD's one is very academic and one is not. The one that isn't has to put in way, way more effort than her sister to scrape grades. I'm worried enough it'll be a bone of contention between them.

We do pocket money for chores because several of my DDs friends have ambitions to 'get married and have babies' like their mums. I have no quibble with my girls being housewives if that's what they want, but I don't want 'meeting a bloke with a really good job' to be their ambition in life. So mine already equate work with money and more/harder work with getting a bit extra. Although we do the pocket money they have jobs (like tidying their room and putting their washing in the basket) that they do without payment as they are just things that people do.

I can see why some go down the road of giving their child a larger amount and then they have to budget from it. My friend's 15-year-old gets his money every month and it has to cover his clothes (other than essential uniform, underwear and when his parents would normally buy him new stuff - so essentially it's for the tshirt that he "needs" now etc), his lunches, his bus fares and all his afterschool activities. It's amazing how now that he has control of his money he can walk to school rather than expect his Mum to cough up £12 a week for the bus and how he gives his Mum money for packed lunch stuff because £3/4 a day for lunches is 'a rip off'. For some kids (especially in households with money imo) it really helps them see that the odd pounds here, there and everywhere really add up. Their family budget isn't a penny different, but the 15 year old isn't mumphing and moaning all the time

sazaccount

Hi all,

I haven't read the whole thread but I'm really shocked on how much pocket money some children are getting...

I'm in my mid 20's I used to get £1 a week until I was 14 1/2 when my mum caught me smoking and stopped my pocket money. However I had a paper round since I was 13, then at 15 was working as a pot wash in a nursing home, 15 working in a fish and chippy and at 17 cleaning offices as well as the paper round until I went off to uni.

However I did get £10 a month into a savings account which If I touched the money my parents stopped putting money into it!!

It paid for some of my driving lessons along with working, test etc. It also helped my 1st year of uni meaning that I didn't have to work during the term time and I had holiday jobs (a couple of summers I had 3 jobs).

My brother is 15 and he gets £2 a month to spend on what ever he wants and gets £20 into his saving account (changing times lol).

But on the other hand we never had to pay for our own out of school activities, I had panio lessons, guiding (well still in guiding) and swimming. But as soon as I was old enough to help with the club (swimming and guiding) this was expected so I had my activity/training for free. My brother does a lot of competitive archery and my parents do pay for his membership and comp fees, but if he wants a new bow or wants new arrows half of the cost comes out of his savings.

balletshoes

sazaccount wrote: »

Hi all,

I haven't read the whole thread but I'm really shocked on how much pocket money some children are getting...

I'm in my mid 20's I used to get £1 a week until I was 14 1/2 when my mum caught me smoking and stopped my pocket money. However I had a paper round since I was 13, then at 15 was working as a pot wash in a nursing home, 15 working in a fish and chippy and at 17 cleaning offices as well as the paper round until I went off to uni.

However I did get £10 a month into a savings account which If I touched the money my parents stopped putting money into it!!

It paid for some of my driving lessons along with working, test etc. It also helped my 1st year of uni meaning that I didn't have to work during the term time and I had holiday jobs (a couple of summers I had 3 jobs).

My brother is 15 and he gets £2 a month to spend on what ever he wants and gets £20 into his saving account (changing times lol).

But on the other hand we never had to pay for our own out of school activities, I had panio lessons, guiding (well still in guiding) and swimming. But as soon as I was old enough to help with the club (swimming and guiding) this was expected so I had my activity/training for free. My brother does a lot of competitive archery and my parents do pay for his membership and comp fees, but if he wants a new bow or wants new arrows half of the cost comes out of his savings.

Can I just ask, how does your brother manage to go out with his friends etc on £2 a month?

sazaccount

balletshoes wrote: »

Can I just ask, how does your brother manage to go out with his friends etc on £2 a month?

Sorry £2 a week, but they live in a smallish town, its about a 20 minute walk into town. There's no local cinemas closest one is 20/30 mins on the train and not much to do/spend money.

ss

LiveLoveLaugh

Well I feel mean :undecided

My DSD (12) gets £12 every four weeks, this is for her to do as she likes, if she wants to go out with her friends (which she is just starting to do) buy magazines or sweets etc. We buy all her clothes, pay for lunches, bus fares, trips out as a family and phone. She is here every week but only every other weekend. She did have the opportunity to earn pocket money at her mums as well for doing jobs but never does them.

DS (6) gets £6 every four weeks, he usually uses his to buy football magazines or sweets as obviously he doesn't go out with his friends yet. :rotfl: Again obviously we pay for any clothes, lunches, days out etc.

They both have a chore list although these are compulsory rather than pocket money being dependent on them as I found they only helped out when they wanted something and I think they need to learn that everyone in the family should help out. They have to do their chores like it or not (Although its not much really)

Pocket money can have money deducted for really bad behavior or the like but its never happened yet.

They also usually get £5 for good school reports/parents evenings as well.

I have an extra jobs list so that they can "earn" extra money if they so wish, neither has taken me up on this yet though. :rotfl:

GobbledyGook

sazaccount wrote: »

But on the other hand we never had to pay for our own out of school activities, I had panio lessons, guiding (well still in guiding) and swimming. But as soon as I was old enough to help with the club (swimming and guiding) this was expected so I had my activity/training for free. My brother does a lot of competitive archery and my parents do pay for his membership and comp fees, but if he wants a new bow or wants new arrows half of the cost comes out of his savings.

If you add up the costs of that you'll probably find your pocket money was comparable.

My child's friend gets control of all her cash, but my DD does pretty much the same activities. They both have school lunches so they actually get the same amount, but it's dealt with and given out in different ways.