Reply With QuoteMy two ( 11 and 13) get £2.50 a week, the eldest on his GH card, both can supplement this with extra chores, the youngest makes the most of this but sadly the eldest doesn't.
This is something that’s bothered me for a while. I do recall getting some pocket money when I was a kid but I’m very much of the school that thinks kids get plenty already. Occasionally I give my son some chores to do and once done he gets some cash - is this being mean - I just think it’s better to teach them money has to be earned.
The emergence of apps like go Henry has brought the topic into my head again. Should I start giving him pocket money or would that be sheep behavior. He’s 12.
As an example - He helped me paint the garage and got £30 and has about £500 saved.
What are the thoughts of the body of the Kirk ?
My two ( 11 and 13) get £2.50 a week, the eldest on his GH card, both can supplement this with extra chores, the youngest makes the most of this but sadly the eldest doesn't.
Cheers..
Jase
Originally Posted by JasonM
In 1975 money, that's 30p.
My 12 y/o gets £5 per week.
I think giving them pocket money is a great way for them to learn how to manage money, and gives them some freedom. I’d vote for a small weekly sum.
Edit. I’d rather them expect to help out at home than expect money for it - this could be part of a weekly allowance of ofc.
Last edited by jonasy; 2nd December 2020 at 09:26.
In 1975 money, that's 30p.
My 12 y/o gets £5 per week.
I know, I know
I have been thinking for a while its a bit stingy, they only spend it on bloody VBucks and Robucks anyway, and it pees me off paying for a virtual new hat ( seriously) for his virtual character. If I give them more it would only go the same way, we had a long chat about spending real money on virtual bull**it that they never really own and it just gets the game owners rich but it fell on deaf ears.
Its their birthdays coming up in the new year so I may up it a bit, maybe.
Cheers..
Jase
Our 9 year old gets £20 a month, he can then do chores, such as loading the dishwasher, cleaning his room, cleaning the lounge etc. for extra.
He has to budget himself and is learning that if you spank all your dosh as soon as you get it, it makes the rest of the month seem like a very long time.
I’m glad to see these numbers and realise they haven’t changed much since I was a kid, especially as whenever I drive past a school I find myself amazed by these iPhone zombies walking around.
I’m always intrigued with how these kids all have iPhones. They’re probably always older models though I guess so likely to have been handed down.
My Dad hasn’t given me pocket money for years - tight b@stard!!!
This.
My kids are grown and moved out, but we took this approach (making it £20 a month when they were older) and both seem to have a healthy attitude to managing money now.
M
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In our kids case, yes, they have had handed down phones, the youngest has a old 5SE ( he barely uses it) and the oldest had my old 6, however last year he saved his Christmas money and bought a used 7+, I think it was hard for him to let his money go like that but he felt it was important enough to spend his own money on.
Cheers..
Jase
This similar to what we do. My 15 year old gets £50 per month but has to use that for everything that we consider non essential ie if she wants clothes she pays for them, but if she needs something for school/sports club then we pay. If we eat out as a family we pay, if she heads out with friends for Nandos she pays. He attitude to money now is great and is a saver rather than a spender.
The sooner that can be instilled the better.
We've just changed our 12 yo over to monthly rather than weekly. Weekly was £3 but we paid for everything, essential or not. She didn't understand the value of money until we changed to monthly. After running out after 2 weeks in the 1st two months she's now changed her attitude to saving/spending!!
Obviously we treat them if warranted but I think this is the most important life lesson parents can teach!!
I have no kids of my own but the training wife had 2, Nothing was free and standard stuff with standard rewards gave them both a minimum amount every week and extra stuff was always on offer, i have a building business and wife had an indoor go kart track so it was there if they wanted it. Her Daughter spent a week on a 10t dumper during one holiday. As they got older they started with wanting desired items, latest console,phone Ugg boots so for these i used to say, i will go halfs let me know when you have save up. Most times the focus had moved when they got to the amount lol. Both had a good sum saved when they left school, knew to weigh up whims and the value of work.
Very interesting replies. It’s curious. I just asked my son as I dropped him off to school if he would like me to start giving him pocket money now and he said no money should be earned.
I may weave in a couple of the above mentioned strategies too though.
It was pocket money earned when I were a little lad whether that be a couple of quid a week for doing the basics like washing up, bringing in the coal, laying the fires and then further opportunities to earn helping Uncle, Dad or Grand Father with a bit of land work...planting/picking potatoes, hoeing, cauliflower cutting, painted the guttering one Summer.
Dad got me working in the summer holidays at the local Brewery by 16, 140 quid a week seemed like a lot of money to me in the mid 80's...the old man still likes to remind me of his generosity in not charging me anything towards the household groceries during that time, proper gent bless him.
Did me some good though as I quickly learned the meaning of hard work/ value of money. Our Lad is 10, has some delays/challenges so he's a bit younger than his years ,we're at the moment just introducing unpaid chores like tidying his room, clearing the dishes and such as part of being in the family, in time we'll introduce something a little more extensive, formal, for some cash of his own.
Both my kids 17 and 14 get a monthly amount, to cover all non essentials, we also cover clubs and trips. We also pay both there phone contract's, but any extra charges are out of there allowance, neither have ever gone outside of there inclusive data, texts or calls.
My daughter at 14 is a saver she isn't in to fashion or technology and cooks two or three nights a week and bakes at the weekend all because she wants to and not by being asked.
She is desperate for a job but there's not much going locally at her age.
She still hasn't spent any of the Christmas or birthday money for the last year.
My lad at 17 has a few issues and is unable to find a suitable part time job, I tried to employ him at my work but he couldn't cope with half a shift, and now has a new found respect for my work.
He used to spend as soon as he got his money but recently has started to save.
Something I have done is offer to advance up to three months allowance at a time for bigger purchases, my lad has taken me up on it but then realised another few months with no money is hard.
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you have your own cheap slave labour - make the most of it by making them work for their pocketmoney , you can also introduce contracts and take something away if they break it to give them a taste of real life :)
I thought it was only me that did that. when my daughter (10 yrs) broke her oboe (borrowed from music service) I told her she was paying for it whether replacement (£1200) or repair. Annoyingly she is really careful but accidents happen. However, I pointed out it was in her care. Luckily a repair shop fixed the damage and it 'only' cost her £60. She likes to go horse riding. Costs £12 for a hack but she pays £10 and I add the rest. Impressed at how a lot of you have got that balance of instilling the idea that nothing is for free but you can cushion the blow
Last edited by mrushton; 2nd December 2020 at 11:06.
Great post. I was over generous with my kids back in the 90's as I'd left their mother. I don't think it was the best thing to do, but I was trying to buy love and make up for the misery I had caused them. Still gave my youngest money into her late teens. I got it all wrong. My Dad was so tight...that's what made me work so hard!
I never carry any cash these days so we use RoosterMoney for our kids’ pocket money. They have chores to do each day which they have to sign off and then at the end of the week I decide how much they get. Ordinarily my 4 year old gets £2 and my 7 year old gets £3 with potential for extra based on getting good grades in her schoolwork or a merit badge etc. She also gets a Rooster debit card which she can use herself, though she hasn’t tried it yet. She is saving for a hoverboard at the moment and is over half way there, though she keeps wanting to spend it on roblox characters and the like so it’s useful having that big thing that she is aiming for to manage that.
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My 12yr old son has a GoHenry account and card.
He gets £7 per week, but he really does have to earn it - daily emptying the dishwasher, tidying his room and the family room (to be fair, it is almost exclusively his mess), walking the dog a couple of times a week, depooing the garden (again, courtesy of the dog), emptying bins, pairing up socks from the weekly wash, and ensuring he gets his homework done.
If all the above is met, he gets £7 on his card on a Sunday.
So clever my foot fell off.
And he must spend the £7 on Sherlock Holmes
We have five grown up kids and when they lived at home they all had spending money until they got part time work or started work full time.
During this time we never charged them once for any of the holidays we went on.
Never charged them either for clothing, food, accommodation, clubs, horse riding, cinema, toys, bikes, fishing trips, lunches out, TV, phone, fuel, full time care, tuition, wear and tear to the furniture etc etc
We never had to pay any of them either to give us or there siblings any help, we worked as a family unit :)
Sadly not. It seems to disappear into the Nintendo store more often than not on some "skin" for Fortnite...And he must spend the £7 on Sherlock Holmes
So clever my foot fell off.
I can'y remember relly what daughter got since she was 40 this year but when I was working I got pocket money, wife and I agreed I'd get 20% of my wages, this encouraged me to do the long hours inc weekend overtime(80 to 90 hours weekly) but usually i couldn't spend it all so got tucked away for holidays etc, being a greedy git helped of course, I liked the idea of money in my pocket and the ability to buy 'stuff' but since I'm tight it usually just built up in the stash.
My two, six & 10 years old don’t get any pocket money from me.
They get £1 per week off my parents who keep it at theirs in tins and when the girls go on holiday they usually dip in to the tin and take some money out. They also get £10 each off my grand parents when we go on holiday.
They don’t want for anything, have gym membership, horse riding and are spoiled at Christmas and birthdays. Also have subscriptions like Disney plus just for the kids.
I’ll occasionally put £1 on my eldest’s Revolut junior card for helping out around the house.
My two are made to do all the chores, every day, and they're rewarded with a lump of coal and a smack at Christmas. They're excitedly counting down the days …
I moved my son from GoHenry to a Metro Bank Cash Account. Same features, but it's free and is a proper bank with proper branches.
https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/ba.../cash-account/
We've got three sons, all grown up now but I never gave them pocket money, I wasn't paying them to live in my house. They did chores, washed the cars etc for being part of a family, not for cash.
They had everything they wanted, mostly sports equipment, clothes or musical gear they didn't need anything else. Of course we didn't really have the internet as we have now.
I never got pocket money from my Dad either which encouraged me to work for money as a lad.
Cheers,
Neil.
Agree, my 7 year old gets £10 a month for doing basic things like making her bet, behaving well etc but she spanks it on roblox within 10 minutes of getting it. I am hoping she will learn how to use it more slowly and enjoy it more, with encouragement from us as parents of course.
There isn't a one size fits all, you have to tailor to suit.
Some will sit around all day playing computer games and having no appreciation of money given the chance and need some hard rules.
Others will show they do have an understanding from a relatively early age, study hard, have "positive" hobbies such as sport, performing arts, etc generally don't expect anything and are grateful for what they do receive.
I wouldn't approach the two scenarios the same way
My son (15 going on 16) gets £7.50 per week into a normal bank account with debit card. When he hits 16 I will probably change this to a monthly allowance instead.
My daughter (12 going on 13) gets £5 per week cash (soon to be a bank account as per my son).She will have hers raised to £7.50 when she starts Year 9.
Both of them have to do a certain amount of chores a week and meet certain criteria in order to ‘qualify’ for their pocket money. It can be reduced as appropriate if chores are not done or their behaviour warrants it.
They use their pocket money to buy stuff for themselves,holiday money,gifts etc etc. I pay for any clubs,clothing etc etc etc.
You'd need to either get them to complete chores or to achieve a certain standard at school otherwise you're just teaching them DSS.
Last edited by wileeeeeey; 2nd December 2020 at 16:13.
Interesting thread.
I think one big difference these days as to when I was in my teens is that there aren't really part time jobs for young people anymore. A few employers may take someone aged 16, but most want 18 now - it's just to fraught with potential problems for them to employ anyone younger.
I started part time jobs when I was about 11 - with a paper round, then quickly moved on to working on farms and even building sites when I was thirteen and fourteen. By the time I went to univesity I had worked in pubs, Happy Eater (remember those?), in factories, as a drivers mate moving machnery, and loads more.
I just don't think that is possible anymore.
And, I guess, kids have many more things to spend money on these days too...
So clever my foot fell off.
True, times have changed when it comes to part time jobs, when I was 10 I used to help a grounds man clean up after matches at our local cricket club (Leicester) and as a bonus I got to keep any pop bottles with a deposit on them, could be quite lucrative and make a couple of bob, helped the local scrap man in his yard now and again, butchers round, three paper rounds and did a bit of tidying up for a small engineering company.
I was making more money while at school, sometime, £2-10s to £3 a week compared to starting an engineering apprenticeship at the age of 15 on £2-8s a week and after stoppages I had to pay half of what was left for board at home.
When I was 16 or 17 y/o there was a girl in my class whose parents had introduced an interesting pocket money 'regime'.
Her parents were extremely wealthy and they tried to raise their (4) children with the idea the their privileged postion was not 'normal'. All kids received pocket money until they'd reached their 13th b'day. The idea was: "We're rich, but it's no rule that you will be rich as well when you grow up. Working for your money will teach you a lot!"
From that moment on, all kids were supposed to earn their own money. But, all money earned was doubled by their parents! E.g. earning 10 Dfl (Dutch Florins) for cutting the neighbour's lawn, was doubled with 10 Dfl by dad. Provided they were able to show a ledger! No income was no money from mom and dad. No ledger, no money as well. They ran a tight ship with that and the girl in my class told us that her parents never skipped their rule. One the other hand: the money earned after a month's work in a shop during the summer holiday, was doubled as well! Working in and around the house was not rewarded in money: "When your mother does the ironing, she doesn't get paid for that, so why should you?"
All four were totally happy with the system. All had jobs.
That's not what we see here. Youngsters at the age of 16 can pick any job - even more than one if they should choose so. Supermarket job, food delivery on an electric bike, you name it. Plenty of work here.I was in my teens is that there aren't really part time jobs for young people anymore. A few employers may take someone aged 16, but most want 18 now
Menno
Last edited by thieuster; 2nd December 2020 at 17:18.
I've never given my kids any pocket money, I've always just said to them that "if you want something, you've got to earn it", and then I buy it for them (within reason).
'Earning It' means putting the work in and doing tasks as well as trying their best at school.
They're now 14 and 11.
My son wanted a gaming PC worth over £2k (building himself), and he's financing it himself from his savings and extra work around the house.
Although after reading this thread, I'm liking the idea of a monthly sum to teach them not only the value of money, but also how to make it go further.
My 14 year old gets £6 and my 10 year old gets £4 per week.
They have some minor chores to do in exchange but nothing too taxing, make their bed etc!
They can get tops ups if they wash the car, sweep up the leaves which they do now and then.
If we go on holiday, like we did in the olden days, they will be given some holiday money but will not get pocket money on top of that.
I think it teaches them how to handle money, mental arithmetic,the importance of saving and the joy of getting something you decide to get for yourself. My eldest is a saver, my youngest burns through their cash!
Slightly different but my youngest who is 18 and autistic is currently finding it very difficult to get his foot in the door for even a job interview. He’s applied to about 20 different employers now and it’s clear to see the autism thing is an issue. He goes to college one week on, one off and so the weeks he’s off we give him jobs to do which includes hoovering, bins, dishwasher, taking care of the dogs and general gopher. For this we give him £60 a month which is a sum we think is fair to both parties but also gives him the only real idea of money management he has. He’s saved quite a bit and it’s looking to buy the new Xbox when it’s final back on the shelves. It’s taught him that you don’t get anything for nothing and the value of saving and what that can get you.
From about 13-14 yr's old i was out on many weekends with my dad doing barrow jobs on houses for a few quid pocket money (he was a steel-works electrician ),had many happy hours crawling around in lofts looking for where he put the screwdriver hole for a light fitting then cutting a noggin of 3x2 to fit between the joists to fasten the ceiling rose to, with a half inch hole for the 1.5 mm twin and earth cable,along with chasing out cable runs with a bolster chisel and hammer.
Do you know what ? i wouldn't change one second of it ,taught me how to earn my own money and just what exactly my old man had to do to bring us all up.
In my experience there are some kids who get everything bought for them and no pocket money, others get a kings ransom but buy their own socks and have to save for their own school trips!
It’s a bit like Christmas presents - my family spend very little at Christmas, my parents and I haven’t ever exchanged gifts since I left home, same for my wife - our families don’t buy each other gifts apart from the kids and even then it’s not more than £100 max per child. However if we need a new tv, computer, anything really, we just buy it during the year when it’s needed - so I’d buy my son a new MacBook if he needed it but wouldn’t save it until Christmas as a present, I’d just buy it for him. Like I say, everyone is different!!
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I don’t give my 11 year old son anything. Mainly because he’s not interested in having any. He doesn’t spend anything. Sometimes I ask him to do a chore & offer to pay him some money but he always turns it down. He has a couple of hundred quid in his ‘stash’. Most of it from last Christmas and his birthday back in June. I’m the only one that ever takes anything out of there, if I need some emergency cash. Paying it back later of course. I suppose I could insist on repayment of a bit more of that £500 debt he ran up on my credit card last year, buying ‘cool stuff’ for Fortnite. I cleaned him out of £115 at the time but have written the rest off mentally.
My 11 year old and 13 year old get £20 per month each. They have Nationwide current accounts with debit cards and I transfer it into their accounts. This way they are learning about taking responsibility for their own finances. Occasionally one may ask for some more for something but they have to earn that with chores. Oh I also pay for phone contracts for them with a little bit of data, just £10 a month contracts.
My lads still earn their ciders and steaks with various jobs around the house
When my son turned 13, we agreed that he would get a paper round at the local newsagent. He got £20 per week for his round. I also opened a current account and a savings account for him. The deal was that he could use £10 and he had to save the other £10 in the savings account. I tried to explain the concept of interest to him but given the interest rates are rubbish I agreed that I would double whatever he saves at the end of the year (you could do it more frequently).
since then, he has paid for all the gifts he bought us out of his earnings and covered most of his own costs. He did baby sitting, worked at coffee shops, did tuitions, etc. He knows he needs to earn money to spend it...
This is interesting, I didn't know they could have accounts with cards at these ages. Something in going to look into for mine as I think having a bank account is really good for young people.
It depends on the bank. For instance,they have to be 13 to get an independent account & debit card with Santander.
sounds like you are doing a fine job as it is. Make the shite work for it
Regarding the commend above re: mobile phones. My son has an ipad but not a phone however his sister (who is in her 20's and from my 1st marriage) had a phone at his age due to the circumstances surrounding contact with her mother.
That said times have moved on in the intervening decade+ and a phone is not just an instrument for making calls any longer and I would expect that next year or the year afters xmas present will be a phone.
My 11 and 8 year olds both get £10 a month. Sounds tight and it is but they do also get things bought for them.
The idea is that they have the money and can save up for something they really want (Potentially alongside birthday and Christmas money). The 8 year old is darned good at not spending a penny until he has enough for a Switch game. The 11 year old never has a penny and gets frustrated with her younger brother.
The older one has also been a bit of a sod this month so she’s lost her pocket money this month. Her mum docked her the money, but didn’t give her a chance to earn it back - which I’d probably have done.
I’m off to Google Gohenry - never heard of it.
I need to have a chat with my father then. I was getting 10p a week back in the mid 70's!In 1975 money, that's 30p.
My 12 y/o gets £5 per week.
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