To say no to Claire’s?

I like to support local shops as well. But I‘m not sure that’s something a child can be expected to care about.

The posts about teaching them impulse control (wait 2 weeks etc.), looking for a better deal and and encouraging spending are great imo. My mother also encouraged donations (to causes we picked together)…

Didn’t you spend most of your money in Claire’s at that age. It Bow Bangels as it used to be called.

And want skin care fridges ! I saw my dds friend had bought 1 for her 12 year old im glad I don't have that palava to deal with.

they could waste their money even quicker at primark

I couldn’t agree more. I received birthday money from my gp’s but had to save it in an account (like £10). I didn’t see it as my money. It never brought me any happiness, and didn’t teach me what it was supposed to teach me. I knew even then that it was wrong, if the money was given to me I should be able to have an opinion on what I wanted to spend it on. A couple of magazines or a record would have brought me happiness.

I hated clares when my adult Dds were young it is the ultimate tatt shop but it had the latest "trends" for young girls.

so I did take them, but I only let them spend X amount every few weeks just so they didn't buy so much crap. it is supposed to be cheap and cheerful so you are not going to get quality sadly, just split their money up and monitor what they buy.

Let them spend their pocket money on what they want. It’s crap to us, but gold to them. Let them enjoy picking out what they want, it’s worth more than the money.

I’m not sure what you’re getting pounced on defending Claire’s quality.

It’s cheap tat. The kind of stuff you’d find in Poundland but 5x the price.

BUT, it’s your DD pocket money. I remember my mum always having an opinion on how I spent my pocket money. In the end I felt no motivation to behave as I no longer saw it as my money.

Claire’s Accessories - will be gobsmacked if you’ve never come across this chain before!

Claire’s is pretty awful quality and over priced. Maybe take them to some local craft markets? We have lots of good local jewellery makers and the prices don’t seem to be that bad. I buy silver stud earrings from a local maker and pay around £9 a pair, they are well made and they do lots of funky designs for adults and kids.

I'm 44 and probably wasted most of my pocket money in Claire's Accessories as a child. It's sort of a rite of passage and I guess if they like the stuff, it's up to them. They'll learn or outgrow it soon enough.

They are 6 and 9. The perfect age for Claire’s. I haven’t found any of their stuff to break. Yes it might seem like overpriced tat but girls this age love all these accessories. Believe me you will miss them loving Claire’s when they reach age 11 and are into skincare! 🥺

It's their pocket money, let them spend it how they wish. They will learn eventually.

Their pocket money, their choice (of course nothing dangerous or illegal)

We did put a cooling off rule in place, if it was more that 1-2 weeks worth of pocket money, they had to sleep over it (parents usually don't buy anything worth more than a months salary on a whim).

Yes, Claires is low quality, if you take care of it, it might not break/deteriorate quite as quickly. Are they upset when the stuff breaks? Or don't they really care? You should discuss quality vs. price. And discuss motive for buying, why do they "need" to have this? Also show them researching options, or buying 2nd hand eg. flea markets, boot sales. When they are a bit older: do they really need a brand name t-shirt/shoes/etc. or does a noname work just as well? We sometimes negotiated: parents buy noname/basic item, they can top up for brand name...

In the end pocket money is a mechanism to develop a healthy attitude to money and spending. And money is only worth something when it is spent, not sitting in the piggy bank. Enjoy!

Teach them the thirds, third to enjoy, third to save, third to be useful. So perhaps a third on something from Claires, a third towards something they can save, a third towards whatever they consider to be useful. It's teach them that money doesn't grow on trees, hold back the Claire obsession and at the same time encourage them to use the money they have saved for something larger they really want.

Smiggle

Try smuggle for pencil cases. My kids loved it and bit better quality

Have a period say a couple of months where they don't go there. Hopefully they will never want to go back. No one is too young to understand about the environmental impact of things that don't last, nor of the trade off between price and quality.

I feel your pain!
We went through this - but with Smiggle rather than Claire's. Always found the stuff in there massively over priced and we had lots of breakages.
We encouraged the spend half save half rule and the half that got spent I didn't restrict where it got spent.
If you talk about the poor quality etc it will be a lesson for them going forward. And the phase passes (quicker than you'd imagine!)

Let them spend it on what they want. I wasn't a fan of Claire's either, i found it overpriced for what it is, but wee girls love it and my daughter was no different. As she got a little bit older she was more reluctant to spend the money in there and more careful about what she was buying. She was the same with Robux - blew it the first couple of times she had it and then started to be more careful, and once spent her birthday money in Build A Bear despite warnings that everything she was buying was going to wipe the lot out. She never done that again. Your children will get there too, they will learn for themselves.

Also just let them enjoy it. Not absolutely everything has to be a teaching moment. Don't suck the fun out of it like some are suggesting.

It’s absolute tat. Of course if breaks quickly

Teach them shoplifting, that means they have the items they want and their money. Win win 🤭

I'm joking obviously, I agree with a compromise. Half spent in Claire's, half saved.

Proper waste of money let my kid drop her own spends there too once and same all crappy broke soon after so it’s a no from here too

Mine went through this stage and also a smiggle phase. If anything I found smiggle to be even worse quality than Claire’s, dreadful.
Just wanted to say that things do get broken by small kids no matter how careful!