Aibu To give our entire Holiday spending budget to DS ?

What's the point of a holiday like this? It's going to be stressful for both of you instead of fun.

He needs to be right budgeting in a less risky way.
Things like taking him with you food shopping for a meal you've planned to make together, where you can discuss options in real time and explain why you'd choose the bag of saver carrots over the organic version etc

Like good budgeting I think th reasons need to be little and often, spread out and integrated into real life, not a massive high stakes test you already know he'll fail.

I would give him this task for his snacks and drinks and souvineers only! No way would I risk my wine and ice cream fund being wasted

I’d do the talking it through option - “we have £100 per day; if we do this trip shall we just grab a slice of pizza for dinner so we don’t leave ourselves short for tomorrow?” That sort of thing. Involve him in the decision- making process.

Maybe try it for a day, with a days worth of the money. Not the whole trip!

We used to give ds a monthly allowance and he paid his own school lunches, mobile phone/data allowance, barbers, socialising etc and he had to budget with it. He soon learnt if he bought sports drinks and cake every day at school lunch he’d quickly have no money left for the rest so filling his water bottle was a better choice.

I wouldn’t risk stress during your holiday if he hasn’t done the basics of budgeting in a familiar environment first

Christ, just let the poor lad enjoy his holiday.

Any life lessons can be learnt when you get home.

Sounds stressful. Like he's being given homework on holiday. Teach him at home.

I think it's a great idea, but that I would perhaps keep an emergency reserve just in case you need it. If he keeps within the amount he is given you can use the emergency reserve for a special treat on the last day.

this. He might still learn the lesson you're trying to teach, without the risk of affecting the whole holiday.

But also, would you really be prepared to stick to it, if he spends all his money within the first few days? Would you really be able to sit there enjoying an icecream every evening while he stares at you like a hungry dog? Because either you would limit yourself too, or you'd feel guilty and think 'Oh, what the hell, we're on holiday, I can give my son a quid for an icecream' give in and buy one for him, which would teach him the exact opposite.

I wouldn't enjoy that as an adult, at 15 it's not a life lesson but more of a lesson in ruining a holiday.

Maybe not complete free reign, but can you sit down together and plan your days with the overall budget in mind. He will quickly see that he can't afford certain combinations. Leave room to change things, so you can decide actually we don't need ice cream today, but let's spend today and tomorrow's ice cream money on coffee and cake today. If by the end of the week no ice cream money then so be it. But have a rough idea for the week of expensive activities Tuesday, free swimming and mooching Wednesday.

I think it's too much at 15yr old given his impulsive spending history just to hand it over and say there ya go son you're in charge but I do think it's a great idea to get him involved 50/50 in the decision making. You may have to accept him making different decisions to you on certain things but this way he learns to budget, to compromise and to take responsibility

Don't give him all of it, just give him a daily "allowance" for things like drinks, ice-creams etc, and tell him that once he has spent it then that's it. You pay for meals out/day trips but he's responsible for his own spends.

Just go enjoy your holiday and relax, don't turn it into a lesson.
I agree with other posters, teach him at home.

Just do it on a daily basis. Let him know what the daily budget is and let him plan the day accordingly.

I let my 13 year old and two 8 year olds do our weekly food shop!! We had a lot of pudding that week. Lots of veg. Not so much meat!

I wouldn’t just give him says 1k. But maybe the daily budget each day. That way if he blows it, it’s only cheese on crackers that day.

This happened to my husband actually his parents did the same it taught him some brilliant life lessons.
Personally I would do a scalled back approach of not giving the entire budget rather the budget minus meal money so he has to calculate the luxuries and save some to hopefully get a "special" meal on the last night.
Too much can go wrong giving the whole lot.

Exactly this.

Sorry no but I wouldn't do this on a holiday..surely this is meant to be a relaxing time away together, not with the added pressure for them of getting it right with the budget and you worrying if they are doing it right.

He might not prioritise the same as you. I went on holiday with a friend last year who went and bought water, salads and ice cream from the supermarket. Fuck that, I’m on holiday, I paid for them all around the pool. A cheap bag of chips of an evenings does me, whereas some people like the expensive three course al carte meals.

Lovely idea.

Never doing it.

ADHD child has very different spending priorities to us and would be on a complete power trip!

I saw a family doing this in Cornwall at Easter, the three children were responsible for the spendies for the week and were beyond delighted that on their last day they had enough for ice cream as well as cake. They were in front of me in the queue so I’m not exactly sure of the rules of engagement, but it seemed like they’d been given the family’s budget for the week and decided where to visit, what to eat, etc.

(if that was you, hats off to you!)

Why would you add an extra layer of stress and tension to your holiday? Helping a teenager learn to budget is an excellent idea, but I wouldn't do it on holiday. That should be a time of relaxation and enjoyment, not constant worry that he'll get it wrong or that the funds for certain activities won't be available if he overspends. By all means include him in discussions about making choices and how that affects your plans. But don't turn the holiday into an experience that he is unlikely to enjoy and that could lead to resentment and avoidable stress.

Split your money into the number of days you are away. So 200 x 10 days, total of 2000.

And then each day include him in decisions so he can see where the money goes and how to save.

We started something a bit like this with ours when they were much younger (around 8/9). In advance of leaving home we had a chat about the number of ice creams, drinks, treats, rides at the fair etc we all agreed was reasonable for each day of the holiday. We (parents) then allocated a sum of cash for each child for the whole trip, to cover all agreed stuff above. Each child had a little purse with their cash (although I ended up with them in my beach bag). The agreement was that they could spend their cash as and when they wanted to, but when it ran out, that was that. If they reached the end of the holiday with cash left over, they could keep it.
it was a highly popular move, and more than once there was money taken home. I know that if I had been dishing out treats the whole time, I would have spent more in total. Moral of the story - kids are more careful spending their own money!!