To think kids should have money?

[opheliacat]

Obviously I don't mean hundreds a month but anywhere between £2-£20 a week depending on age for over 7s seems reasonable to me.

I would hate to never be able to buy a treat for myself.

Does anyone not give their children any money?

Really? I don't know anyone with a newsagents but lots of kids with paper/leaflet rounds.

Last time we lived in Scotland eldest son had to wait till he turned 13 to get an after school job in the paper shop.

I thought it was 13 for paper rounds.

Five I don't know how you have extrapolated anger from any of my posts.

*Five I don't know how you have extrapolated anger from any of my posts8

Ok.

I think regular pocket money is a good idea in principle but it doesn't work for us at the moment. 5 miles to the nearest shop where they could spend it so they're dependant on an adult to take them there as public transport is nonexistent. Two of them have ASD so wouldn't be able to shop without supervision anyway. They get money/ Amazon vouchers from both sets of grandparents for birthdays which they can use to 'treat themselves'. I do sometimes give a reward for being helpful / doing a job well eg DD got to choose a magazine today because she sorted out the pen drawer and sharpened all the pencils.

Also, if we go out somewhere, I allocate each child £5 to spend as they wish - sweets, plastic tat, rides, bouncy castle, whatever. That way they learn about budgeting and when it's gone it's gone.

I was given a weekly "allowance" from the age of 9-ish, which included money for school dinners, brownies, sports etc. It also had a bit extra as pocket money. It really made me think about the choices I made when it came to spending and I'll definitely do he same when mine are old enough.

Both my teens have worked since they were 14, initially for our business, but now have other jobs as well as for us at the weekends. My 16 year old left school in may and went into work based learning mon-fri and for us at weekends. His choice, no one expected him to work as much as he does but he enjoys it and loves to spend and save money. He now earns near to £300 a week. My other son (18) is just starting uni so will cut down his hours working for us, which we encouraged. My 13 year old daughter helps us on a Saturday and gets £25. I think by just handing it to them they don't appreciate it as much. All 3 of mine are very conscious if what the spend because they have had to work for it.

Forgot to add, before they worked they got £10 each a week pocket money.

I used to get £1 a week, which I usually spent immediately on sweets. Chewits, usually or maybe a bag of Haribo sweets. Any more pocket money and it would have meant more money blown on sweets so I can see why I only got that amount of money.

I did have choice and freedom. I got birthday money and Christmas money and got to choose what toys/books/games I wanted with that. Occasionally my parents bought me a toy I wanted too.

I never had pocket money, coins were raided from dad's trousers at night or when he went for a run. I was earning in a weekend job from 15.

We give our DDs (8 and 5) £5 a week, which they spend on magazines and snacks or a toy they see and want to buy. It's good because they have the experience of spending their money and running out. It makes our lives easier because when they say they want something the answer is, 'Take it out of your pocket money.'

We do withdraw £1 if they're naughty, but they can earn it back. If they hurt each other or throw something, then they lose it for the week.

Because getting up in the morning and being ready for school is such a battle for DD1 at the moment that we're saying that they can earn her pocket money, £1 per day equalling £5 per week, by getting to school on time. This worked well last week, so so far so good!

Dd is almost 13 and she doesn't get a regular fixed amount in pocket money and instead will ask if there's something she wants, to be honest she very rarely asks for anything as she knows her Xboxlive, crunchyroll and spotify subscriptions cost me over £20 a month.

She loves gaming and anime/manga so I'll usually buy her a manga a month and dh will buy her maybe three or four games a year. I'll give her a tenner if she's going into town and maybe a bit more if it's a special shopping trip.. two months ago we went to an anime convention and I gave her £60 as it was an extra special one off thing. She saves her xmas and bday money, is well,aware of the value of money and offers to cancel her subs when dh goes through dry spells with work.

Pitching in around the house doesn't earn her any money as it's something she's expected to do regardless of our incomes (a friend did this with her 7 year old in an attempt to get him to tidying his crap away, he soon opted out of chores and thought giving up £3 a week not to do them a bargain). I also don't link it to achievement but do buy her something at the end of each school year, nit for getting good results, but usually something to relax over summer with after working hard, a few books, a DVD , a board game type stuff.

She can spend any money given to her on what she chooses, I might try and change her mind or encourage her to look elsewhere score committing if I think she's going to pay a higher price.

She has bought things that I'd personally think is a waste of money but played with for hours and hours, I think the manga she buys is a waste, but she loves them, reads them several times, lives organising them, they are worth every penny to her and she gets value from them.

She says most of her friends don't get pocket money and just ask their Mam and Dads if they want anything.

What reason would you have to be suspicious of anyone employing a 12 year old? My 12 year old DCs skipped across the street to take care of small children who were our neighbours. My DS mowed an elderly neighbour's lawn and helped her with big seasonal gardening jobs like hedge trimming. I knew all the people whose homes my DCs worked in (and it was work - they changed nappies and kept small children from serious injury for a few hours, and cleared up messes. DS's work was also work).

Just saw your post where you look down your nose at the honest work known as mother's helping. What is wrong with it? Why would you deprive your DD of the chance to contribute and earn?

Giving my children money when they asked for it, rather than a set amount per week makes no difference to the amount of control I exert over how they spend that money.

I would imagine that, if my DDs felt that they needed more freedom to buy what they wanted with their own money, they would have started being bothered to ask for pocket money. DD1 never did and DD2 has got to 14 without bothering.

In fact DD2 has had a debit card with £20 available for the last six months that she could use without me even knowing she is at the shops on at least four days every week. She knows the PIN and has free access to the card. If she wanted tat and was worried I wouldn't like it, she could have bought it herself any time.

You need to stop labelling people as controlling just because their family routines don't live up to what you thought you wanted when you were a teenager.

Once mine are old enough (3 and 2) they will be getting regular pocket money, I didn't as a child or a teen and ended up very isolated with no-where to go and no-one to see as I never had the money to do activities with them (I also wasn't allowed on sleepovers, but that's a different thread). I hated it and now that I have my own money I had to learn the hard way to budget and not just buy whatever I wanted as I never could before. I completely understand if the parents cannot afford it but mine could. My youngest sibling always did get money though and treats bought for her so maybe I just wasn't liked very much. different dads and hers was abusive to me. once he was temporarily out of the picture i did get to stay up and have treats with my mother, but I got very fat from that and never going out. I hope to change that with my kids.