Teenagers Allowance

System

I think I got £10 towards dinners (mum felt giving me a tenner and making me budget for the week might help) and £5 "pocket money".

I worked 10 hours a week in a video store so that gave me an extra £40 a week, if I didn't do that it would just have been the £15 a week which I was still grateful for.

Mrs_Optimist

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to post.


I don't think there are any right or wrong answers, she is our first born (DS is 14 this year and boys don't tend to need as much) but I want to treat her fairly without spoiling her.


I am the eldest of 5 and started working at 13 - and have worked ever since. My parents didn't have the money to fund clothes or lifestyle so I can understand both arguments. DD has volunteered in a local charity shop since the age of 14 and we "paid" her a princely hourly sum of £3.50. She has plenty of work experience but she is sitting a lot of GCSE's which involve a lot of coursework so we do not want her distracted by working whilst she studies for those exams, hence not presently helping out at the charity shop. When she start College its a different matter entirely. We want to be able to help her financially because we can, but its a fine line isn't it?


We paid for her provisional driving licence for Christmas. We have offered to go halves with her for driving lessons and she has been saving Christmas/Birthday money towards this although she cannot start driving until October. I had to pay for my own driving lessons and I did resent the fact that my friends had everything paid for them, whereas my parents couldn't afford it, so I want to strike a balance because our financial position is very different.


She has never provided us with any problems, her manners and behaviour are exemplary and she is a star pupil so we must be doing something right!


I am just concerned about getting it wrong if that makes sense?

zagfles

ciderwithrosie wrote: »

Wow! Some very lucky kids here. I'm afraid mine had to get part-time jobs once they were at college, which funded their social lives and any extra clothing, mobile phones or equipment they wanted. They'd get a packed lunch if they asked for it, if not, buy their own lunch. Toiletries have always been part of the household budget and they would get bought clothing/shoes if desperate or for birthdays/Christmas. Any college trips were paid for by us.

So you're just paying about the same in another way - my DD is going on a college trip costing £450 - she's paying for it herself, she pays for all her own clothes, make-up, hobbies etc.

I went through this recently with a couple of friends who paid much lower allowances but when you added what they paid for directly, eg school trips, clothes etc it came to more! One even pays for a mobile contract for their 13 year old :eek:, no way on Earth I'd ever give my kids a contract mobile no matter how sensible they are.

I don't really understand parents who say they don't want their kids to work while they're studying. I don't know any kids that would voluntarily study on a Saturday so they could easily work then. Also you're disadvantaging them when they do come to get a job, as there will be others their age with work experience and references.

I doubt a degree level employer would really be interested that the applicant worked in a chippy at 16! The course my DD is likely to do at uni would involve a year out working so that would provide much more valuable work experience. Oh and she does study on Saturdays, she actually enjoys it (and all her hobbies are on Sunday!).

Spendless

balletshoes wrote: »

is there much scope/opportunity to do that as a 15 or 16-year old at the moment?

I'm asking as it appears to me, from friends' families with kids at that age, that its quite difficult to find a weekend or evening job? It certainly seems to be a lot more difficult now than it was for me (30 years ago).

I got into conversation with an Asda cashier about this a few years ago, what she said was because all their staff were required to work either Saturday or Sunday every week, it meant they weren't employing any weekend staff. She had 2 teenage sons herself and had paid for them to take a lifeguard course to enable them to find part-time jobs.

zagfles

Poppops wrote: »

I would agree with you if they were adults, but they aren't.

And the charge isn't to cover expenses because the poster asks for the money 'regardless of distance'. It's almost a service charge.

Doesn't feel right

It might stop them taking advantage of the "free taxi", after all if they went by bus they'd pay. But as above for insurance reasons it's best not to make a profit. Charging for petrol and maybe a bit for wear and tear is fair enough.

Mrs_Optimist

I have been giving this some more thought.


In terms of toiletries we pay for general things, tampons, shampoo etc, but she budgets and pays for her own make-up or any luxury shampoo, shower gel which she wants.


On Saturdays she did volunteer at a charity shop and we paid her (because she was too young to get a Saturday job and we didn't just want to hand money over), and she budgeted again for nights out to cinema, meals with friends, bus fares etc. We have never paid for those things unless we were going out together.


She also budgets to go to the gym from her current Allowance and has turned down invites to go out with friends if she doesn't have the money budgeted to allow for this (which I find really hard as I could easily afford to give her the money to go so she doesn't miss out - but don't)

carlislelass

Eldest worked 2 evenings plus Saturday and kept his wage, youngest worked the same plus holidays, Both used the money for driving lessons etc

Andypandyboy

ciderwithrosie wrote: »

Wow! Some very lucky kids here. I'm afraid mine had to get part-time jobs once they were at college, which funded their social lives and any extra clothing, mobile phones or equipment they wanted. They'd get a packed lunch if they asked for it, if not, buy their own lunch. Toiletries have always been part of the household budget and they would get bought clothing/shoes if desperate or for birthdays/Christmas. Any college trips were paid for by us.


I don't really understand parents who say they don't want their kids to work while they're studying. I don't know any kids that would voluntarily study on a Saturday so they could easily work then. Also you're disadvantaging them when they do come to get a job, as there will be others their age with work experience and references.

Perhaps you don't, but all mine have done that, by choice not because we pushed them into it. If they didn't use their time for study then I would agree with you.

As for disadvantaging them, I doubt having worked in a local restaurant washing up would cut much ice with graduate employers. I would far rather their AS/A2 level and degree results did the talking than a job paying £3 an hour. It is really an individual decision though.

Buzzybee90

zagfles wrote: »

So you're just paying about the same in another way - my DD is going on a college trip costing £450 - she's paying for it herself, she pays for all her own clothes, make-up, hobbies etc.

I went through this recently with a couple of friends who paid much lower allowances but when you added what they paid for directly, eg school trips, clothes etc it came to more! One even pays for a mobile contract for their 13 year old :eek:, no way on Earth I'd ever give my kids a contract mobile no matter how sensible they are.
I doubt a degree level employer would really be interested that the applicant worked in a chippy at 16! The course my DD is likely to do at uni would involve a year out working so that would provide much more valuable work experience. Oh and she does study on Saturdays, she actually enjoys it (and all her hobbies are on Sunday!).

For a first or second job, they certainly are. Both my graduate employers asked me about the part time jobs. It's all transferable skills and shows initiative and drive.

Good a levels and work exp is always better than just good a levels.

millysg1

I'm I my mid 20s and I can see a difference between my friends and cousins that worked and those that did not and got everything paid for them. Mostly the difference is not academically but with their life/job decisions. Those that did not work sort of got lost at 18-22 ish with not knowing what to do career wise, even those at uni changed their minds and took a while to find a job on graduating.

My friends and cousins who worked, definitely seem to know more about what they wanted in a career and had that bit more life experience.

Just my point of view, I'm sure there are stories that appose this!