How much pocket money do you give?

iammumtoone

Looking to start giving my 12 year old pocket money.

I have no idea what the going rate is so asking what others give their child(ren) and how hold they are.

Thanks


Edit: just googled and the average amount for a 12 year old is £6.60 per week, that seems alot.

maman

It depends on what the money's meant to cover.

Personally I'd say a 12 year old is old enough for an allowance so that they can start to learn the value of money and budgeting. The figure would be based on all the things you'd normally spend on the child (I'd exclude school uniform and birthday/Christmas gifts).

Some posters believe that pocket money should be earned but I believe children should do age appropriate chores because they're part of the family/household without expecting a financial reward.

strawb_shortcake

We don't give ours pocket money, we have 3 children aged 10, 14 and 15. They share a job delivering leaflets shares £20/£20/£10 every 3 weeks. The eldest then has gardening jobs earning him between £20-30 a week.
We encourage them to save and they quite happily do, they recently chose to put the bulk of their savings into their JISA.
I do pay for mobile phones (for the eldest), clothes, clubs and hobbies etc.
They help around the house when asked but beyond keeping their rooms tidy and the eldest helps with the Garden as my Husband is unable.
If we were of a mind to give them pocket money I've no idea what we'd pick or how

flea72

The amount of pocket money we give varies depending on their needs, not age. One of my children has a large circle of friends, so wants to socialise more than her sisters, who never go out or have any hobbies. We therefore give her more. Its been a balancing act of whats enough, but not too much, as we want her to prioritise her spending, and understand that she cant go to every event she gets asked.

Pocket money covers all non-essential spending. So i buy clothes they need, but if they want something new for an event, then that comes out of their money. I pay for bus fair to college/school, but if they want to go into town, then they pay for that. presents for friends birthdays/christmas also come out of pocket money. I pay for sims, but they buy their phones.

Unfortunately, alot of her friends dont get pocket money. their parents are just a never ending pot of cash (and new expensive phones).

We currently give £30/m to our 12yr old. Our older children now work f/t so dont get any pocket money. But when they were 12 they got about £5-10/m

For christmas and birthdays relatives tend to buy them costa/starbucks/cinema vouchers as these type of treats would really eat into their pocket money

iammumtoone

maman wrote: »

.
Some posters believe that pocket money should be earned but I believe children should do age appropriate chores because they're part of the family/household without expecting a financial reward.

I totally agree with the above.



I do pay for his phone every month and his xbox live so its not as if he doesn't get anything. I want him to learn to budget, I am unsure if I carry on paying for those things or give him more so he can pay his own (phone would need to be moved to pay as you go).

PrettyKittyKat

What you can afford should come into to play. I think at 12 years old £5 per week is about right. Enough to save for things (like holiday spends) or buy something small (like a magazine). My pocket money was reviewed each birthday growing up and increased.

svain

Mobile phones are a necessity these days and is cost of having children and shouldn't reflect their pocket money.

I also disagree with paying regularly for chores. Kids shouldnt expect to be paid for doing "every day" jobs around the house. (contrary to most people's views, i dont think kids should do any chores unless it is a genuine need for help by the adult (single parent, time constraints etc)

I think £5 a week is reasonable as a base rate of pocket money (with no expectation in return) of which they can fritter away should they wish .... They cant spend it twice is also a good lesson learnt early.

maman

I'd expect children to do chores around the house in an age appropriate way which could range from putting away their toys as toddlers to laying the table or putting their clothes down for washing or making their beds/tidying their rooms as they get older. When they were teenagers my girls did a bit of cooking (prepped veg and reproduced some meals from their cookery lessons) and got their own breakfast and got their bags ready for school the next day. When DD1 was 17 she loved doing the food shop, mainly because she got to take the car!

I'd suggest far more than just a token amount of money for treats for a 12 year old . We sat down with our DDs and talked through all the things we spent on them from out of school clothes to hairdresser to school meals and comics and sweets and swimming and cinema. Basically everything non essential but each family will decide what those are. Then we divided it by 12 and paid it as a monthly allowance.

spirit

I'm a nannie to a now 20 month old. I've been giving £10 a month. I've no idea when and how much to up it by.


The paternal g/parents give a set amount into his JISA each month, but no idea how much. Not sure if my ex gives him any.


I also buy clothes/toys for him as and when (most weeks)

euronorris

I don't think £6.60 average per week is a lot/too much. I was getting £3 per week up until age 16, and that was 20 years now (gulp). The BoE inflationary calculator suggests that inflation between 1999 and 2018 (doesn't go up to 2019 yet) would increase that amount to at least £5.11.


I remember feeling that £3 per week wasn't enough. But, you know, I survived! lol


So, somewhere between£5 and £10 is about right I think.

TBagpuss

I thinmk it depnds on what you are expectingthem to buy.

By the time I was 12, I no longer got pocket money, but instead got an allowance, which had to cover
-all non-school clothes ('School clothes' for this purpose included a winter coat, and shoes for school and games),
- toiletries if I wanted something different from what was bought for family use,
-leisure spending (so for instanace if I wanted to go to the cinema, go to a cafe, buy books, magazines etc)
- gifts for friends' birthdays etc.
- hair cuts / styling ( my parents would pay for a basic cut, but if I had wanted to dye or perm my hair I would have had to cover the extra myself)

As far as I recall, the amounts we got were initially based on how much family allowance my paretns received (I'm in my 40s, so that was probably wotrth more in real terms than it would be now)

The amounts were enough that I could afford to buy new clothes evey quarter, but did have to learn to budget - which was of enourmous benefit when I left home as I had already learned about managing money, budgeting etc.

If you go down that route, sit down and think about what you would normally, reasonably spend on your child and what things youare planningwould continue to be your expenditure, and what would be theirs (bearing in mind that part of the plan is to let them chose how they spend their money, so things you want to control may need to stay in the 'you will buy' list!)

If you don't go down that route so pocket money is just for little things for fun, then I think £3-£5 a weekl is reasonable - it's enough that they can aford to buy small treats or such, and that they may bneed to save up if they want to do something like go to the cinema or go out to macdonalds with friends.