Teenagers renegotiating allowance.

[StrumpersPlunkett]

I am aware there will be variation but we have been on £1 a year each month.
So aged £12 it was £12 per month.
Apparently this is not the going rate.
We can afford more but just don’t want to spend more than we need to

14yo gets a tenner a week. She needs to pay for everything except essential clothes/shoes, and basic communal bathroom toiletries. IMO if you are able to afford it, it's worth giving them enough for it to be a meaningful lesson in budgeting. DD has mates who complain that the only get a tenner a month, but they always tap their parents up for money if they're going out.

[quote CoffeeandCakeEqualsLove]@mrsm43s if you pay for everything they need, what are they spending that (very generous!) allowance?[/quote]
At the moment a lot is saved due to lockdown! But normally, cinema trips (£10 a tme), meals out (Nandos and Wagamama mostly!), Costas, recreational shopping trips, concerts, make up, getting nails/eyebrows done, saving up for bigger things (e.g. Reading tix for eldest). Also computer games, saving for upgrades to computer hardware, gaming mouse/keyboard etc. Things they want, but aren't necessities.

We live in quite an affluent area, and they're privately educated, which may affect how much disposable their peers have. They're lower end amounts compared to their peers.

Mine also do the £1 for each year per month. They don't have to buy much from it and both have loads saved up. I'm happy to renegotiate with them but it works for us right now. They are 12 and 14.

@MadMadMadamMim same here. Dd(16) gets nothing either (apart from a sim only contract that we pay for) . She's just had a birthday and had a fair bit of money from relatives, she's currently on an online spending spree, we've told her that she can start to earn her own money by doing chores but she chooses not to. I'm hoping that when she runs out of money she might start to do them out of desperation for the cash!!

£1 per year of age is tight. What can you actually buy for £12 a month?!

@Mooloolabababy

Me too (the desperation for cash bit)! He is currently living off Christmas money and the remains of what he earned in the summer. And obviously, there is nowhere to go at the moment and nothing is open, so his needs are minimal.

We live in a very touristy area - and it is normal for kids his age to work. In the summer he works approx 6 days a week (part time) in a holiday job and earns £5 an hour. This pays for ridiculously expensive trainers, etc. He is happy to do a really boring job, standing out in all weathers, for this money.

Out of season I am happy to pay an allowance in return for chores. He chooses not to do that. I'm hoping as he gets a bit older he'll realise that you do need money all year round, not just in summer!

[quote Mooloolabababy]@MadMadMadamMim same here. Dd(16) gets nothing either (apart from a sim only contract that we pay for) . She's just had a birthday and had a fair bit of money from relatives, she's currently on an online spending spree, we've told her that she can start to earn her own money by doing chores but she chooses not to. I'm hoping that when she runs out of money she might start to do them out of desperation for the cash!! [/quote]
The objective of pocket money is to give the child money so they can learn how to manage money. Learn to budget, to save and so on.

By depriving your child of pocket money, it’s so obvious they have learned nothing. Why else would they be on a spending spree now?

We’ve never linked it to chores or earning the money because it’s about teaching them how to manage money by delegating some of what you’d spend on them anyway for them to get real life practice with it. They know you need a job to get money once your FT job isn’t being a student.

Sounds like they want to negotiate with you, so what are they offering for more pocket money? Could you have a think of things they could do to earn the extra and maybe have a staggered system? I.e here’s the base rate. Here’s what you can earn up to by doing A, B and C?

Mine get £55 a month, 16&17. Buy clothes, shoes ( not school uniform), toiletries and junk food and any travel expenses if going out. Tight but good for them, learn to budget. DD sells lots on dpop and babysits. DS has a Saturday job

Mine get £50 per month (14 and 17). We buy what they need, school uniform, enough other clothing, shoes, toiletries and pay for their phone contracts (another £10 per month each). They can spend / save their allowance as they wish. DD likes going out clothes shopping with her pals. DS tends to save it up with Christmas and birthday money to buy something more expensive, new phone or whatever.

I got £20 a week from 14 years old.

We’re still on £1 per year of age per month, and yes this is tight, but during primary school it’s totally adequate- what do they really need to spend on each week/month? I’m not into encouraging them to spend for the sake of it.

Then they get a phone in Y6, at 11, so that’s extra. Then in Y7 they’re getting dinner money to manage too...

As they’re still more with family than mates at that age, I’m OK with being generous with extra for the occasional cinema trip or contributing to birthday presents for their friends etc

I have mentally earmarked turning 13 to be a change to a different system where they get more money per month but are expected to pay more from it too. I like the business plan idea though if they want a raise sooner!

It’s all gradual, isn’t it? Gradually increase the money alongside the responsibility.

Mine are adults now but got £80 a month paid into their account.
I paid phone and travel pass.
They paid everything else except essentials.
If they blew it then they had nothing!
They both started saving and it gave them financial independence.

I was given £30 a week from 16 and that was in 2004. Only paid for make up, not toiletries, nor phone or most clothes. Tough times these days for kids'

I think that sounds pretty low, I was getting more than than almost 20 years ago when I was younger!

We can afford more but just don’t want to spend more than we need to

Why not?

Haha - different times!
I never got pocket money, I once asked for money as a reward for household chores like some of my friends did - met with mirth as they are jobs that need doing anyway, no-one gets paid for them!
Got my first job at 13 and have worked ever since, alongside school, college, full time work and evening Uni to earn money.

There was a recent thread on this and like this one is varied so much.
My 15 year old gets £25 a week. She saves some.
I pay her phone and general clothes but if she wants something like a £80 hoodie she buys it herself.

Mine are students or at first job level. They never got any pocket money or allowance, but we paid for their phones and travel, their hobbies and any one-off things, like birthday parties. They tended only to get clothes as Christmas present or birthday requests. They had small part-time jobs and they could spend as they liked with that money.

DS went from £20 to £40 when he turned 13. It was a big jump but he's got some expensive (not outrageous but there's always something to buy) hobbies like guitar drums so that's where most of his money goes. He's always saving up for something. I buy his clothes.

As a secondary school kid, I got £20 a week for school lunch, and nothing else (managed to save maybe a pound or two from this). But my parents did cover my mobile phone bill (£5 per month, only minutes and text), and buy my clothes (nothing fancy).

I never understand why parents give kids an allowance to buy things they like. Maybe if kids did something to earn the money then okay. But growing up, I had to help around the house and still didnt get money for it.

And when parents and relatives did give me money, i had to put it in the bank and was never allowed to spend it.

@MiscUser9823 my children did help around the house but they didn't get an allowance to do so.
They were expected to tidy up as everyone who lived there did.
They also saved birthday money.
They got an allowance to learn how to budget and take responsibility for their own money from a young age.

Ds (17) gets to keep his PIP but he saves half of it & he gets £80 a month bursary from school. He is saving for going to university because he knows I won't be able to afford to give him much as I am on ill health benefits & will lose cb & ctc when he finishes school. I buy him bits like toiletries when I do our online shop & give him money towards clothes if he needs anything big like coats & shoes.

Wow, some of your dc get more spending money than I do!

My dc get nothing-7 & 11. They don't need anything, don't do anything, struggle to spend their birthday money & it just feels a bit pointless atm.

I would like them to do stuff to help out & happy to give them an allowance. We've talked about it but never managed to come to an agreement. I think £1 per year of agr per month is plenty.

OP did they come with a photo of Arthur Scargill to start the discussion?