aibu? a post about how much dinner money is acceptable for a yr 7 child...

[chimchar]

ds is nearly 12 and in year 7 and is exactly like kevin the teenager.. he's of average size.(if this matters for the purpose of my post!)

I give him £2.00 per day to buy lunch. he can get a fresh, filled baguette for £1.80. He takes from home a 500ml bottle of flavoured water and a chocolate/cereal bar as a snack.

we are having riots because he wants to buy a something (anything!) in the shop on the way home from school with his mates. the past few days i have relented and given him £2.50, and he has bought a can of cheap, sugary pop. its getting on my nerves though, so I have re thought the extra 50p...he doesn't need the pop...he still had drink left when he comes home. he thinks i am the meanest parent around.

money is not a huge issue, but it IS adding up and i could do without him spending it. I suggested him spending his pocket money on buying the crap/pop/sweets, and he hated me even more!

Am i being stingy? i am fully prepared to told if i am bu, but this is my first thread in AIBU, so please be gentle!

My secondary aged dcs get £2.10 a day dinner money (I know it seems a funny amount, it's crept up from when my Yr12 dc started in Yr 7 and he's told me when everything's increased 5p or 10p).
If they want to buy rubbish which we no doubt all did as teenagers be it sweets or pop or whatever, then they get it out of their own pocket money. Mine get the amount of their age, in £ per month. So, a 12 yr old would get £12 a month. Their choice to spend on sweets / pop or save for something they collect or want to buy that's more expensive.

Which schools do your kids go to that £2 a day buys a decent lunch? I am jealous.

DS2 is in Y7 and his school has a ParentPay system so cashless and done with fingerprint scanning. The website I can top it up on also shows what he has eaten that day. I put £40 on at the start of term and had to top it up with another £15 to last until the end of September. I checked his purchase list to see how he was blowing through it and where he could scale back, but he has only been having a sandwich or wrap (same price) or a bacon butty at break time for £1 and a bag of crisps at lunch.

My goodness you guys are generous with pocketmoney!

DC Yr 7 gets £1.10 a week pocket money, approx £2.20 for lunch (they buy it electronically) and has a card from a local coffee shop that I load up monthly with £5 on it (buys a few sweets or a do nut).

Oh, and we pay for phone too.

Mine get £2.50 for dinner money, but then they don't get to take anything from home- don't forget you are spending on the flavoured water and the cereal bar too. I think this sounds quite enough.

I don't think £2.50 is stingy for pocket money either: mine get £10/month when they start secondary. I don't think you do children any favours by teaching them that constant snack buying/magazine buying etc are must-haves: I always bear in mind that mine might want to go to university, and I remember very well how those of my friends who were used to spending a lot struggled to survive.

I think the going to the shop in year seven is an Independence thing that can wear off quite quickly.

I also think it will only wear off if they are spending their own money, not yours!

DS (Y7) has £2.50 to spend every day at school for lunch, but not the cash in hand it is paid via parentpay. He still eats crap but he has to buy it from the canteen. I do nag him about his food options but he doesn't care what I think. I have now taken to stopping him eating when he gets home to teach him that a cake = unhealthy option leaving you hungry after an hour. He is slowly getting it.

Yr8 DS.
Packed lunch that costs 80p/day.
Dinners cost £2.10 but never asks, has braces so finding anything he can chew is challenging.
I'd make him more lunch if he wanted, is that not an option?
I would give him £1/week for "extras" if he asked (never asks).
I know I'm a sniffy snob, but 20p of sweets/junk is a lot of sugar even for an adult, & due to braces DS is especially banned from fizzy drink anyway.
£12/month pocket money, he could spend how he chose.

I pay for the phone. He's on GiffGaff & other day he swapped 5 minutes of phone calls for ham sarnies.

Of those who give their DCs money to cover lunches, snacks, subs for various groups, can they be sure they're spending it on appropriate food at lunchtime? Ours is done through Parentpay anyway, so I can see what they're buing every day, but gosh, I'm suddenly feeling like a control freak for wanting to ensure my DCs spend their money on "proper" food.

£2.00 wasn't enough in my school for something decent.

Think you're being a bit tight.

£1.70 per day here for a school meal - my DD is 8 and takes a packed lunch

The people on sch

school meal consists of take 4 menu

School Meals

Pretty, meals at secondary are usually charged by each bit. Eg if I wanted say jacket potato and salad (I work in a secondary school) then I would be charged for the potato and then the salad.

My DS takes a packed lunch and I give him a £1 a day for shite at the shop

at for shite at the shop

Does anyone else's school have ParentPay for lunches?

The school I work for does.

Not here Bella there is a secondary menu too Secondary Menu - £1.80

My dd1 is 12.8 and in S1 (Scotland). School dinners are about £2.50 a day.

Money isn't a big issue for us, and they're allowed to leave the school premises on 2 days a week. The school is near a busy city centre road in Glasgow with chippies, Maccy d, subway, and some nice independent cafes, some of which do lunchtime meal deals for schoolkids. She's like a magnet for chips but doesn't have a really sweet tooth, but healthy eating and good body image is important to us.

We've come to an arrangement with her. On Monday she gets £12.50 - enough for 5 school dinners. Theres a fridge in our kitchen with loads of healthy options for home-made lunch. She can make a lunch and take it, or buy at school, or buy out on her days out. At the end of the week, she can keep the £left. No charge for packed lunch!

It's worked well. She's made lunch a lot and if kids are doing it (all of mine make their own) then we insist on healthy stuff. She's profiting a bit, but the £ goes into her computer fund (she's trying tonsave up£50 to buy her Grans old laptop). So it's helping with budgeting and also saving. Mind you when they're all in high school it's going to cost us £37.50 a week!

Pretty, the menus looks very nice. I would be going for the minced beef pie or the haggis, needs and tatties!

neeps