How much pocket money for 15 year old?

[Simionfab191]

DS is 15. We're thinking £20 per week on the understanding that homework is complete, room is kept tidy and bins are put out. This is to cover food when out with friends/girlfriend, cinema trips and to allow him to save for any particular clothes or video games he wants. We'll still buy his basic items.

Does this sound reasonable?

I stopped pocket money for each of mine age 16 3/4. There's loads of work and and I expected then to work a little up to GCSEs, babysitting, cleaning and one teaches dance, then get a proper job whilst at college. My 19 year old runs a business and has a 12hr a week job on top of uni.

£20 a week is £86ish a month - sounds very reasonable to me.

That should cover a couple of cinema trips, bus tickets and McDonalds meals. Fancy trainers or expensive games can be saved for slowly and/or asked for at Christmas and birthdays.

Based on kids I know, assisting at sports clubs (swimming, ballet, gymnastics), refereeing at kids' football matches, jet washing patios, washing cars...

Sorry, meant to quote a PP who asked what kind of jobs 15yr olds can get

I know 14 year olds who work as kitchen porters in pubs, in the back part of local butcher and one serving customers at the till in our local farm shop. Some have family connections but not all. If a child this age wants to work they need to go into all the local businesses and ask. Smaller family run ones are less likely to have an over 16 rule.

I give ds (17) and dd (14) £25 each a month. My dd has a Saturday job and earns £20 a week. She's good with money and buys lots of stuff from primark. My ds has money in his account from two birthdays ago. He's not interested in clothes but one tracksuit can cost £100. He's not bothered about going out. He buys PS4 games.

I gently encouraged all of my children to get weekend jobs by not giving them pocket money. I always bought their clothes, toiletries etc and occasionally treated them to a lunch or cinema visit. They all found jobs and enjoyed spending their own money on whatever they wanted. It also seemed to make the transition into the adult world and proper jobs smoother.

I have a £16 year old and £20pw doesn't sound much at all. Mine doesn't get pocket money I just give him money when and as he needs it. No idea how much he ends up with but it's more than £20.

It depends whether you’re paying for their phone also and how much that is. My DCs phone every month was in return for chores and if they wanted anything else they would have to do something else to contribute like cook a meal for the family. They both got jobs at 16.

I expect to be slated now but expecting your kids to pay for all sorts of stuff on what is not enough, under the guise of budgeting when you wouldn’t be able to do it yourself is some kind of abuse

£20 isn’t going to go anywhere especially if he needs save for particular clothes

Agree 100%

There are some very odd views out there!!

Dd is 10 and gers £5 a week and has done for the last 2 years which which is about the cost of a crappy kids magazine. She can earn extra by doing chores. But it stops the "mummy, mummy can I have" when we go out. She knows if she wants a toy or pokemon cards etc they come out of her money.

I am a single mum and earn around £26k. Her dad earns nearly £60k so can afford to say yes and I got fed up of always being the bad guy.

After a chat about savings she saves £1 into a daving account via her gohenry card. She has been given a target of saving on top of that £30 before Xmas to pay for presents for her dad. She is learning more about budgeting this way than I ever did at that age.

She knows once she starts high school she will get £10/week and she will need to pay for anything she does with her friends from that. At 15 I would expect to be giving her £15/week so £20 seems fair enough

This 🙌🏻 the poor kid is basically being set up for failure and disappointment, for god sake life is hard enough when your adult why inflict that on to the poor kid now

Those saying get a Job most places want you to be 16 with a national insurance number.

We don't send children down coal mines, or up chimneys anymore. They have to be 16 for that.

We always paid for trips whether it was a school trip or scouts and guides but DC were told that any spending money was their responsibility to save for.

Maybe I’m harsh but I’d say a week is more than generous. Teach them to save & to budget. If they want more get a paper round etc

We gave £150 a month at that age. We still bought all clothes and toiletries. They rarely spent it all but we were happy for them to save some.

I think you as a parent should be covering their days out and luxuries

Necessities should be covered
Luxuries are just that

There are plenty of people who can’t afford meals out and weekly trips to the cinema etc. As an early teen I spent most of my time with friends listening to music at each others houses, experimenting with make up etc. We went to the cinema once a month.
Not everyone has £200 a month to give to each child.

DS12 gets £30 per month. He gets school dinner money and I put a bit of money on his school snack account each term about £5p.w.

Blimey. I'm seriously out of touch. My 13 year old doesn't get anything and has never asked. If he did want to go out to meet friends/have a day out I would cover the costs and he would return the change (this is extremely rare though). He knows not to waste money on overpriced drinks etc so usually just drinks water if out. I buy everything else that he needs.

I used to give my DD/DS £25 a week but that was for everything they needed and they weren’t to ask me for money unless it was desperate and they paid me back. I paid for phones, lunch etc and they used their money for leisure and what they wanted. I think it depends on where you live etc and what needs to be paid for out of it. If it’s for school travel, lunch etc I don’t think that’s fair for it to be paid from pocket money but if it’s just for leisure than that’s fair enough.

Not many places employ 15 year olds now. I have been told it’s because it’s not worth the paperwork (not sure about many areas but in ours anyone employing under 16’s has to be registered with the council and I admit, it’s a faff and took longer for my DD to start her job because our council are useless). We’re lucky that we have a local theme park that employs 15+.