Pocket money for 3 and 5 yo??

[skewputt]

Just out of interest - how would you/ do you deal with pocket money for this age group? DS (5) and DD (3) have never had any before now and their birthday money etc. has gone into their savings accounts. We have struggled a bit financially in the past 5 years so have never been able to buy much in the way of toys, just leaving it till birthday/ xmas.

We went on holiday abroad for the first time recently and the children's grandparents gave some pocket money. I thought it would be nice to allow them to have their own purses and choose how to spend the money.

BUT much of it got lost, I found it hard to relinquish control over what it was being spent on, AND they've both since developed what I consider to be a quite unhealthy obsession with money!!

I should possibly just relax about it because they may grow up to be accountants and support me in my old age, but I find it a bit sad to see them being basically materialistic when they're still so little.

[bosch]

I have just started to give my older ds's (6 and 4) up to 28p pocket money a week. they can earn up to 4p a day by good behaviour etc. Larger amounts of money for birthdays and christmas are spent by me or go into their account. I would only let them have a pound or so of their own money to spend at the moment (on occasion when I've let them spend more, I hated their choices!). So at a local fair one chose to buy a £1 car yesterday and the other chose not to ...

I think it's going quite well at the moment. Though ds1 is not pleased that he regularly gets docked a penny or two a day whereas ds2 nearly always gets the full 4p.

[hana]

I think 3 is too young for pocket money and certainly to look after it on holiday!

[fondant4000]

I started giving pocket money to dd1 when she got to 5.

Basically, it's how much I want her to spend on sweets in one day! - eg 50p

Pocket money IMO should be money that the child has complete choice over. They can spend it all on sweets and eat them in front of the telly in one go. Or save up some and spend it another time. It's none of my business. Therefore my only means of control is how much.

I think at that age is just getting used to how money works, handing over money, how much things cost etc. I don't think 5 is quite old enough to grasp concepts of saving pocket money, or not blowing the whole lot on a useless piece of plastic tat. So I would not be giving meaningful amounts of pocket money until they were about 8, I think.

At the moment dd2 is 18 months, so I just buy her one sweetie when dd1 gets hers. Dd 1 loves the idea of going to the local newsagent with her pocket money. She still has to nag me for stuff like bratz dolls - which I don't buy.

She has not become materialistic. Although she has a purse, I tend to look after her money and give it to her to put in her purse on her way to the shop. I also take the change (ha!) and look after it and give it to her the next time we gou out etc...

[skewputt]

Thanks! I think my mistake was probably going from nothing to a lot - they each had about £10 for two-week holiday. I think a pound is a good idea and that way if they wanted a small toy they could save (or is that hopelessly optimistic?!).

Hana - you are so right! DD does love her little purse but I realised pretty fast it was a good idea to make sure she only had coppers in it! She just likes playing with the pennies and isn't particularly bothered about buying things. It is with DS I find the whole thing a bit harder - he seems to think that money is an infinite resource no matter how I try to explain. I asked him not to bash his scooter this morning because it might break and he said "never mind, we can get a new one!!"

[skewputt]

Thanks fondant. I think the newsagent is a good pocket money destination rather than the supermarket otherwise it could be a bit overwhelming - for me when I get nagged constantly about what DS can and can't afford as I try to do the shopping!

[citronella]

DS1 (5.9) gets 50p a week. So far he has been successfully brainwashed into saving it in his money box.

[Victoria72]

We have a marble jar for my DS6. He gets a marble for good behaviour which is anything from wiping is brother's mouth (DS10mo) after dinner, or tidying up his toys or just general good behaviour or reading well etc. Each marble is worth 10p. About 50 fit in the jar. Once it is full we swap it for £5 and he can buy something with that. It takes a while to collect £5 but it teaches him patience. He doesn't always spend his £5. In fact last time he saved £15 and bought himself a Transformer. He was VERY pleased with himself. We do occassionally treat with sweets though, but not every day.

[juuule]

I've never given pocket money. Once they get to around 13 they've tended to get jobs and so have their own money to do with as they wish.
Up until then they have to ask for money if they want something or they save/use their birthday/christmas money.

[LittleMoosh]

I give my 6 year old £2 a week. He used to spend his pocket money on Ben 10 stickers. Now he's finished his album and likes to collect Crazy Bones. He also likes to save some of this money. He always hands the money over himself at the till. I think it's good to teach them the value of money from a young age.