Do you give your children pocket money?

[knittedbreast]

If so how much and what age?

I used to give my 5 yr old 10p a week (i know, but the idea was that if he kept his room tidy on friday after school he could buy a couple of penny sweets)

the idea was to show him you have to work for things, give him some responcibility and also to get his used to doing jobs.

Do you give your children pocket money? do they have to do anything for it?

My 10 y/o DS gets £6 pw. His chores are to empty the dishwasher and make his bed.
He gets presents for Christmas and his birthday but has to save his money for other toys he may want.

psiloveyou, thats nearly £20 a week, so £80 a month! thats alot of money when they dont have to do anything for it. what made you decide to do it like that?

I offered to start giving DD1 pocket money but she said no!! I am baffled by that girl sometimes.
I have to ask what is wrong with giving your children clothes/shoes for Christmas though? Last Christmas I bought both DDs a nice pair of shoes (DD1 a pair of black and pink DCs, DD2 a pair of chunky French boots) and DD1 got a T shirt. Last year she got a hoodie, a cool T shirt and a pair of jeans.

I mean, the Christmas before, not last year!

my 8yo DD gets £2 a week most of which she saves for things like her moshi monsters membership or that special piece of crap toy that i won't buy

I give ds (16) £100 per month plus his gran gives him £35 & he gets on average £30 per month babysitting.

He pays his karate fees (£25) and mobile topup (£10) out of that, the rest seems to go on iTunes/cinema/maccy ds.

He knows how to budget now and never asks for a loan, in fact sometimes he lends me £20 to go to the pub [shame]

evilgdil I don't really know why we do it like that we always have. We also have a DD (23) I pay her when she babysits or house sits when we go away. Lots of my friends think that is a bit strange.

We are very lucky that we can easily afford that money. Also very lucky that the dc are very good. They help around the house with everyday stuff because they live here as well. I don't pay them for that.

We also put £50 each per month into a savings account for them. They can't touch that for years though.

DS1 (4) gets £1.50 per week if he tidies his bedroom thoroughly including dust and helping vacuum, on saturdays. 50p of that has to go into his savings account. I don't dock for misbehaviour but I do dock for not cleaning. I've only had to do that once though.

So far he has spent it on star wars lego and some playmobil people. He has £5 at the moment, slightly burning a hole in his pocket but he is desperate for more playmobil so is hanging on somehow. It is helping him learn the value of money.

DD1 is 5 and she gets £2 a week. She doesn't have to do anything to get it. As I see it, helping out is something you do because you are a family, not to get pocket money.

She can spend her money as she pleases and is now after about 3 months beginning to save a bit up to be able to buy certain things.