AIBU to ask if you would give a 7 year old weekly pocket money and if so how much?

[akdmummy]

My nearly 7 yo DD has recently wanted to have some of her own money to spend as she wants. For example at the school fair she preferred me to give her a bit of money and then went off and made her own mind up as to what she spent it on. She understood that once it was all gone that was it.

She's gone to her Grandma's for a few days and without me knowing has taken a few pounds from her piggy bank with her to spend.

WIBU to give pocket money at this age and if so what would a reasonable amount be? Do people attach rules to receiving the pocket money (ie in exchange for doing little jobs) or do they just give it whatever?

Mine is 7 and get £3 a week. He has about £30 saved up and spent other £30 on a nerf gun.

He's saving for the £50 nerf he has seen. He gets the odd extra £1 for doing extras in the house.

He can save better than me

Wow @ someotherfuckers. That was quite a bit then. Couldn't even afford that now for them

ds gets £1 per week per year of age, but half of that has to go straight into his bank account. The other half is his to spend or save. He's supposed to contribute to buying birthday presents for family (I believe in teaching it's good to give early having seen some awful examples elsewhere) but we usually end up paying. He also has had an Amazon account since he was 7 which isn't linked to a bank account but where people can buy him gift cards instead of presents and when the money's gone, it's gone.

It's worked okay. He's got some money stashed for when he's older, he's saved up for expensive nerf guns in the past, I insist that if he wants tat he pays for it out of his own pocket and there's a lot less rubbish coming in the house now.

A few years ago I tried to teach him budgeting. ds loathes leaving the house so I said he could have £5 per week of summer holiday to spend in local charity shops on whatever he want, but he has to go to them ie get out the house and not just hang around. He could save any left over money for next week if he wanted to save for something big or if he saw something he wanted he could get an advance from me but I would charge interest.

This failed on two levels. On the first level - do you know how much crap you can get from a charity shop for a fiver? We nearly had to rent a van. On the second level - my father came with us each time and ds never had to get an advance from me as he could always rely on the bank of Grandad.

The purpose of the pocket money for ds is to try and teach him that money isn't infinite. I don't know if it's been successful, but you have to try.

Her age in dollars a week. With the exchange rate that's probably age in pounds every two weeks.

Chores aren't linked to pocket money because chores are the price of living in a family. We don't get paid for them.

I think 7 is about right and my rule of thumb was what did I expect to be bought with it - ie magazine and some sweets. A bar of choc can be 60p to £1 these days and a kids magazine around £4. I started DD off with £3 at around that age. If she wanted a Mag she saved a couple of weeks but still could buy some sweets with it

Mine are older now, but used to get 70p pw when they were 7 (80p, when 8 etc).
I'd have though £1 - £1.50 should be plenty.
Not in any way linked to jobs - they should be doing those as they are part of the family and living in the house.
Up to them what they spend it on, except they were expected to get 'something' for Christmas and birthdays for their siblings - a tiny thing in cost, but they had to think about doing it.
Other rule is about 'when it's gone, it's gone' - after all, the budgeting is the point of them having their own money.

My 10 yo gets £10 per month. He also has a £10 phone contract (although the phone was 'free' and was his main Xmas pressies 18m ago).

Pocket money is not linked to jobs although I am wondering whether to increase it, if his jobs get done as a motivator. At present, he gets extra for school fairs or days out and I do buy treats on holidays. For example we are on a short break now and I said he could have some sweets. He wanted extra sweets so he paid for those.

Interesting to read about others approach.

The reason we link pocket money to chores around the house is to start teaching the ethic of going to work to earn money. I can definitely see the logic that some others apply that they should be doing it anyway but for us we would like to reinforce the work link

My nearly 9 yr Old get £5 per week paid straight into a Go Henry account. She has her own card which I have an app that I can see what she uses it for and I can restrict how much she can take out in cash. She has to take responsibility for her own room, organising herself for school and clubs etc to earn this. This way I can monitor the spending but she has to manage it herself and she can set her own goals as to savings too!

The reason we link pocket money to chores around the house is to start teaching the ethic of going to work to earn money.

Science shows this is a bad idea (it's not how human motivation works).

Depends what you want them to get with it. Mine get £1.50 a week so one can get some Match Attax cards and a few sweets, or save up for something else. For summer fetes etc we will give them a bit of spending money separately, and we buy First News for our eldest.

I think mine used to get a pound a week with the ability to earn more by doing jobs (not their everyday chores,but extra jobs like weeding the garden or cleaning the car etc.) I suppose now (mine are grown up) it would be maybe £2.
I think of it as about enough to buy small items weekly - like a comic. or collector cards etc (it was pogs when mine were small) or enough to save up and buy something a bit bigger at the end of the month.
It went up 50p at each birthday.

I think children like to have a bit of independence and making their own choices even if in the bigger picture in means they get less than if you just hand out money randomly. the pocket money is a certainty and means they can plan their spending and know they have a bit of purchasing power

I have to say though my two had very different attitudes to pocket money. Dd wasn't bothered - she often forgot to ask for it and if i forgot she wouldn't bother - really not interested. DS was always begging for his whole months money to be paid in advance on the first of the month They have similar attitudes to money even now.

If it was extra chores, being paid to wash the car, I can see it. But what's to stop a child saying, "actually I don't think washing up is worth it for a quid, I'm not doing it".

I work because I love my job, people depend on me, I am changing the world and ALSO I get paid to do it. I am one of those people who would turn up the day after winning the lottery. I might not stay FT but I would come in the next day.

If it was extra chores, being paid to wash the car, I can see it. But what's to stop a child saying, "actually I don't think washing up is worth it for a quid, I'm not doing it".

Precisely.

I agree MrsTerry.
I think it's always good to have some tasks that are your responsibility and you are expected to do - they are non negotiable and not paid. They would include family chores(washing up, meal preparation,general tidying up after yourself in communal areas) - that everyone takes a turn in, looking after your own environment (tidying room, putting washing in basket etc) and caring for pets. As you say if everything has a price rather than a value then some things would never get done.

I give $1 per wk per year of age. So my 6 yo gets $6 per week. I've stopped buying toys and shit other than birthdays/xmas too, and they now use their pocket money to do so. In the long run I've saved loads.

It's not linked to chores. They should be doing Those as part of the household anyway. DS1 did earn an extra $1 a week recently though helping me out on something specific.

The pocket money was useful recently when I said I'd buy dd a rucksack (thinking sports direct £10) but she wanted smiggle so I gave her the £10 and she topped it up with her money to buy the smiggle one which was £15 on sale. It helps to teach her the value of money and costs associated with some brands etc. She's a lot more aware now of how much some things like magazines cost for example

I give my 7 year old £7/week. 50% goes to planned spending - she selects a toy and she begins saving - sometimes it'll take months until she's saved enough but then she's quite proud of herself. She's not allowed to spend the money on anything else. 30% goes to 'mad money' - she can buy whatever she wants if she has enough £. then 10% to charity and 10% to savings.

Monthly, I put the weekly allowance in bags, otherwise I'll forget, plus she has to count out the money herself.
I agree with SheRaargh, no money for chores as DH and I don't get paid to do chores either.
We've been doing this for two years and it works for us. I rarely buy her toys anymore.

I should hope you aren't with £30 pocket money a month!

Growing up, my dad had a very odd way of dealing with how much pocket money I were to receive. At 7 years old, I was given £3/day, at 8 years old, £4/day, at 9 years old, £5/day and so on till I was 12 years old.

At 13, I was given £40 a week, and from then on, if I wanted an increase in allowance (permanent but within reason of course), I had to go through what we'd call the "library evenings". What this comprises of is me picking a topic (C# programming for instance), and for the next couple of months, my dad and I would spend 45 minutes every evening learning about that topic. When he felt like I had adequately mastered said topic, I'd get my increase.

Not the most common method, but I do think there were many benefits to the way he went about this matter.

Only started to give my dd pocket money last year age12,£20 a month plus mobile phone..I buy uniform and essential clothes and essential toiletries.Anything else she gets.She still hoards most if it along with birthday money.She wants a pair of Dr Martin's when her feet stop growing small.

My 5 year old gets £3 a week which is the cost of blind bag or magazine. She wont get extra on top and has a few times saved up for specific things. To get that she needs to be well behaved and to be honest she is helpful anyway naturally. She has always been a tidy one. It does meen she doesnt beg for things and if asks we can say save up or can get with pocket money. It has made her aware of what things cost and helped with maths

This is very interesting. I have questions!

How do you manage the logistics of paying money into and withdrawing from a bank? Do kids' accounts have bank cards? (I loved my building society book when I was a kid.)

If the savings are kept in cash how do you stop them raiding it? DD would spend the whole lot on sweets very happily.

These are quite generous! I don't give my 5 yo anything atm but I'm reading with interest. She's very poor with numbers and counting so I'm not sure if it would motivate her or confuse her.

Sorry, another one, I'm not convinced DD would be willing (or see the point) to put money in a bank, how do you get kids excited about that?