AIBU?
Not to want to pay for my 17 year old DD's mobile phone?
Absolutelylost · 15/05/2013 14:39
She earns about £40 a week for a couple of sessions of washing pots at a local pub whilst studying for A levels and insists that absolutely everyone else has their phone paid for by their parents. It's only me that's totally tight and unreasonable. Apparently it's her right.... She's having to save her money for something very important but it's not my business to know. I have paid her contract for 2 years but I think it's about time she took some responsibility.
Am I unreasonable?
MrsTerryPratchett · 15/05/2013 14:43
She's having to save her money for something very important but it's not my business to know. But she wants Mummy to pay her phone bill. She doesn't know if she is an independent adult or not. Because she is a teenager. Discuss it with her. Maybe you go halves.
specialsubject · 15/05/2013 14:47
no, it is not her right. How very entitled.
you do her no favours by giving into this. Tell her that you will provide a simple £10 PAYG phone and £10 of credit a quarter, which should be plenty to keep in touch. If she wants the luxuries - well, she knows what she has to do.
GreenShadow · 15/05/2013 14:48
Yes, we still paying for our DC, even DS1 who is at university. If we didn't pay directly, we'd still probably end up effectively paying when his loan runs out.
DS2 has an intermittent part time job which wouldn't be reliable enough to pay for a contract, though I suppose he could do PAYG
manticlimactic · 15/05/2013 14:48
Nope YANBU. My DD will be 17 when her contract finishes. I've told her she can go on PAYG as I won't be paying for it once it's finished (more for financial reasons than anything). She's more than welcome to get a job and get a contract herself. Unfortunately you can't get a contract until you're 18 can you? 
BreconBeBuggered · 15/05/2013 14:56
I'm sure you're also saving for something private and important, and can't spare the cash. It's one thing to stump up the odd tenner for a PAYG phone to make sure they can stay in touch, and quite another to commit yourself to an expensive phone/contract.
MoominMammasHandbag · 15/05/2013 15:06
Well I didn't penalise my kids just cos they got off their arses and got jobs. Paid for the phone before they got a part time job, and still pay for it now.
Having said that, your family finances will be a big factor.
Washing pots is a shit job. You'd DD is really earning her money.
olgaga · 15/05/2013 15:08
Everyone I know still pays their kids' phone contracts while they are in full time education. I would expect to do that too.
If they're earning they don't give them any pocket money, obviously. I've already been paying my DDs contract for a year and she's only 12!
Presumably the contract is in your name or attached to your account, so you can cancel it if you really want to show her who's boss and piss her off, but I wouldn't.
hedgehogpickle · 15/05/2013 15:12
everyone else has their phone paid for by their parents
Just had a flashback to what my mum would have said to that - "well I'm not everyone else's parents!" :)
I would offer to contribute a set monthly amount (£10 suggested above sounds good) towards a PAYG until she's 18 then you can offer to contribute the same to any contract she takes out when she's 18 if you want to. YANBU!
Doubtfuldaphne · 15/05/2013 15:25
I think she is old enough to learn the value of money and about budgeting. My 12 year old wants a phone and he is doing jobs for the family to earn the money - to save up for one!
Yes there are parents who will pay for everything with no questions asked and who insist on their kids having the most up to date gadgets but what is that teaching our children? They'll grow up spoilt and bad with money.
randgirl · 15/05/2013 15:25
Ds has a top up package so each month its preloaded with a certain amount which i pay for. He knows that if he uses that up then he has to buy his own top up voucher. I did this as he was using his credit to download songs etc. He is 14 but he takes the phone to school as he needs to call when when it time to collect him due to sport etc. So he has to have available credit to whatsapp or call me.
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