Should 16 year olds get pocket money or get a job?

I think it is important to do focus on college but to get a summer job

We funded 'needs' and they funded 'wants'.

So I'd cover decent non branded clothing and shoes. If they wanted labels they could make up the difference.

I fund essential transport (to college) and they fund transport to social activities.

I buy food and cook for everyone. If they have reasonable requests they go on the shopping list. Extras they can walk to the shops and buy themselves. They can take packed lunches or buy themselves lunch.

This meant our youngest who really liked everything funded for him (who wouldn't) wasn't under pressure to get a job.

But once he realised that he wasn't going to be able to have the designer shoes he wanted and weekend spending money with friends he got a job pretty quickly.

We didn't tell him or our others to get a job, it just slowly dawned on them.

@Dramatic it’s a false economy to make her work in addition to her studying because it is likely to compromise her ability to achieve top grades. I know many (most?) MNers will disagree but - if you can afford it - I think you should continue to fund her lifestyle until after this course.

Thinking about it in my son's friendship group on his Btec the only one of them who worked regularly during term time was the one who got the lowest grades.

Our son didn’t have a job whilst doing A levels. His timetabled hours, plus travel time/homework/study time was about 35 hours a week. With sports,socialising and learning to drive once he was 17, he was busy enough. He did work over the summers between year 11 and 12 and year 12 and 13. Throughout college we paid for everything. We gave him an monthly allowance for lunch and socialising.

He has just finished his A levels and has been working over the summer before he goes to uni. He’s got a part time job lined up close to uni so he’ll work part time at uni as long as he can fit it in. If not he’ll just work in the holidays.

I worked at 16 and my studies badly suffered as a result and I didn't get the grades I needed to get into uni. It wasn't a Saturday job though it was after college until midnight and had to walk a long way home after and a long way to college in the morning so it's a bit different. When my kids are in education full time I won't make them work if they don't want to, the way I see it they are working 5 days a week already and I wouldn't want to do more than 5 days. I don't think it breeds a bad work ethic provided that they are studying and putting effort into coursework etc.

I don't think either attitude is necessarily wrong though, maybe compromise and link the allowance to targets like getting coursework done before deadlines.

Both of mine had jobs at 15, couple of days a week in a local cafe. It does them good dealing with the public, and something to put on their CV.

Ideally I think a job is a good idea at this age. It gives them a glimpse into the working life and something to put on a CV, as well as the satisfaction of earning for themselves. However it depends on the circumstances and the child.

At 16 my youngest wasn't ready for one - she suffered hugely in the pandemic, was anxious and depressed and had low confidence.

She did a vocational course at college for which placements were needed. Initially these were voluntary work but I was surprised when the tutor said most students get a paying job in the field in their second year.

I didn't think she would be able to do this but in the summer of the first year she did, although left it later as she felt overwhelmed, but got another job elsewhere in the new year. She's 18 now and still works there part time. It means she has actual work experience in the area she is qualified in, as well as previous voluntary experience. And earns enough that we don't need to give her money for clothes, entertainment etc.

But I think any work experience is positive.

I have 2 x 16 year olds living locally who babysit my DD11. Not exactly onerous work to braid hair and watch Netflix. They can earn £30 -£35 for one evening. So actually there are ways of earning some money even if you live in a small place with limited shops and restaurants.

My DD is also 16 and starting A levels, also in the NE. She isn't bothered about getting a job just yet and spends minimally so we will continue to support her. She doesn't get a set amount of spending money per week or month but I reimburse food, bus fares, entrance fees etc and buy her clothes (at her request) as it isn't a huge sum. She also has her own money to spend as she chooses.

Of my 6th form year, only a few had jobs. Lots of us volunteered but few had paying jobs.

It's increasingly hard for 16 year olds to get hired. More places are asking for 18+. Even for volunteering now. Local FB page is full of it at times, looking for jobs for 16 year olds and having little success. And I was in a charity shop where a 16 year old came to ask about volunteering to be told they don't take under 18s

I suppose this is another slight issue, we live on the outskirts of a small town and don't have restaurants, theatres etc so there are very limited opportunities for a 16yo to find work. Plus terrible public transport.

In that case, let her loving pappa find her a job. And ferry her to and from said job when the public transport is being terrible.

It very much depends on the child. I worked in McDonald’s while doing A levels in the 90s and it definitely affected my grades, but many friends were not affected. On the other hand it did give me some skills and taught me I never wanted to work in fast food.

dd is 11 and has asd and finds schoolwork tough, she also finds life hard generally and it takes her forever to do the basics. I can’t imagine I’d be encouraging her to find pt work at 16! But it’s still a way off.

I never made my DS get a job at that age because he had enough to do with studying for his exams. He did get a summer job though in a pub.

£100 per month plus a bus pass and they can take a packed lunch from home. £100 would be for anything they want, new clothes, shoes, make up….

My kids all still had pocket money when at 6th form, £40 per month. They had to buy all but basic clothes themselves, although we also provided school lunches, transport, phones etc.

They all had a weekend job, one was a football referee, the others worked in a cafe. Usually just one day a week for 5 hours, and the odd extra shift in school holidays. It was a good balance, as it didn't take up all their time, but did provide enough money for them to go out, buy non-essential clothes etc. The cafe worked out very well, as they were kept on full-time after they finished A-levels, during a year out before uni.

Personally I'd say you should give her pocket money but if she wants 'big ticket items' like video games or posh makeup or whatever, then a job on top would help to fund luxuries.

As a 16 year old I had a Saturday job but no allowance.

It's really difficult to get a job where I live aged 16. Employers want complete flexibility, there are lots of semi retired people willing to take those jobs and give flexibility throughout the week. Combine that with the fact that although we are very close to a (admittedly very run down) city there are no buses after 5.30pm in the evening and none on a Saturday/Sunday.

I gave ds £12 per week pocket money and provided phone, travel to college and college lunches. Anything he managed to earn was on top of that.

DD had both. One thing that was tricky was that for waitressing in our area (which DD did) they quite often sent them home or cancelled shift at short notice so they didn’t get paid the £5.49 per hour. Other times they would keep the younger ones later to finish up because they were cheaper….

And the eldest who had the same, all essentials, pocket money and a job and is now twenty doing a degree. She's managed both well

Mine had both. All essentials paid, a little bit of pocket money from me to buy sixth form clothes, treats etc and a part time job.
My 17 year old is now year 13 and loves her little job and studies hard

When DD went in to VI form the head of VI gave a talk and recommended that, if they did get a job, they did not do more than 8 hours a week because more than that could damage their grades.

In lower VI DD did a voluntary role one afternoon a week (they had Wednesday afternoons off for things like this) then she got a paid job one, sometimes two, evenings a week in upper VI.

We still paid for all the necessary and gave her a small amount of pocket money.

As much as anything the job was for something on her CV. It was also useful because in her holidays from Uni they asked her to work their part time as holiday cover.

Obviously it depends on your families financial circumstances. I largely take the view your teenager/young adult years are for studying and having fun.
Time is much better invested studying for A-levels rather then a poor paid job.
I did some volunteering to add to my UCAS statement at that age, but nothing really paid.

DS got a job when he was 16. But it's a zero hours so he doesn't have to commit to every Saturday for example and it's related to what he wants to do.

Outside of that I pay for his phone and during term time he gets £10 per week for snacks at school. Plus I buy basic clothes (M&S) and school shoes/suits/toiletries and haircuts but stuff he wants he pays for himself.

I agree it's worth whole for them to get a job but it's not easy under 18. DS is the youngest at his place and they don't often take under 18s as they want them all to be able to work the bar.

Do you get CB? My mum didn’t know it was a ‘thing’ until I was about 16 (!!) and therefore just gave that amount to me monthly to cover my bits and pieces myself. Was actually pretty sensible with it as kids go. Covered bus rides, snacks at college, seeing friends, the odd clothing item and my phone top up.
I would probably do the same (although saying that, CB will likely have been scrapped by then).