My 16 year old has just told me...

[itwasadarkandstormy]

... that all his friends are given £200 a week by their parents as spending money. I'm calling bullshit.

Actually, I feel like I've had the stuffing knocked out of me. I thought I was generous at about £80 a week.

So, AIBU?

£80 a week?!! DH and I are both professional and we have less than for spending money.

Unless he's expected to buy lunch, transport, toiletries and other essential £80 a week is too much ... talk less of £200.

My teen doesn't get that a month.

I'd have thought all my Christmases came at once if my parents gave me that much! I got a grand total of nothing off them at 16. I got a part time job after school at that age. My parents still bought me things like toiletries and the odd bit of clothing but any luxuries came out of the money I made at work. Frankly I'd stop giving him money and tell him if he wants money he needs to earn it himself. As if his friends get so much a week, just trying to push his luck.

I suppose the OP is trying to turn her 16 YO into the type of 25 YO who was the subject of a thread last week who thought that £200 pw for spends after all bills had been paid including savings for holidays etc wasn't enough 'to survive on' because cocktails, beauty treatments and meals out were sooo expensive these days .

Stealth boast surely? £80 a week would feed my family and pay petrol.

I'm sorry, but I think you're nuts to be giving a 16 year old £80 a week.
He should have a part time job at that age, whether it's a small paper round, babysitting, couple of hours on a Saturday morning in a shop.

I would say, £30 a week is reasonable, (because parttime jobs don't pay much, so it's good to supplement him a bit) but then he should get off his backside and earn the rest.
You're not doing him any favors giving him £80 a week.

My teen dds think Mac is ridiculously overpriced and they have basic I phones and jobs.

Absolutlry shocking to waste money like that on a teenager.

Ds1 is now 18
At 16 he had about £60-70 a week spending money
He got it by working evenings and weekends at JD sports 😂
Like fuck would I hand over £80 a week to a £16 year old

Surely this is a reverse by an entitled 16 year old looking for proof that mummy and daddy should be handing out more ££££

What!!! At 16 I wasn't just giving £80 a week! My mum would buy food for me to eat, she'd pay for water so I could bath, she'd pay eletric so I could wash my clothes. And she'd give me £15 a week for the buses which was only about £10 so I'd have a fiver left over for chips or something with my friends too 😂😂😂😂

Mine gets £80/ month. She buys all her own clothes and shoes. We pay for phone. She has a holiday job for extras. She is better off than her friends. £80/wk is a joke.

OP Can I come and live with you please? Sounds great, I think I'll only need £75 to live on per week, especially if I get clothes too, nothing fancy, & toiletries on top. Saves you £260 per year & I'll definitely complain less & cook a mean lasagne!!

I left home at 16, got a job, moved in with my bf and payed half the mortgage...

Most adults don't have £80 a week to spend on themselves! My DDs are lucky if they get £5 a week at the most, that's at least £40 a month I've got to fork out and they have to do jobs to earn it.
Never had pocket money as a child, so maybe I'm harsh. But I will pay for any clothing or shoes they NEED.

it's irrelevant what his friends get. they might (i doubt it) get £200 a week if that includes lots of train fares, clothes, lunches, toiletries, books etc etc... ie their parents buy nothing for them and they're being taught how to budget? (clutching at straws).

what does your ds want all this money for?! What does he spend £80 a week on ? Why is that not enough.

Don't get into discussions re what other people get it isn't relevant here, or in life.

Cut him off and force him to get a job or work around the house.

I couldn't wait to gain some financial independence - at 13 I was sweeping up hair in a barber shop on a Saturday, at 15 I was waitressing and by 17 I was working as a healthcare assistant. The summer I left school I was earning well over £1000 most months working.

How is he ever going to learn to stand on his own two feet? Your not doing him any favours - real life is going to bite him in the ass.

If you really are giving him £80.00 pw. Are you aware that jobseekers is less than that?

I cant help but think you are doing him no favours by setting up his standard of living that high - do you help him budget? Does he save some of it? I also wonder whether all of his friends have gone back to their parents saying the same thing

I'm 43, very tidy and quiet, don't mind cooking or loading the dishwasher and am happy with supermarket/pound shop toiletries.

I can manage perfectly well on £70 pw pocket money and even manage to save some out of that.

I hope this is a bullshit thread.

£80 a week! Mine get £50 a month!!

Kids do have more expensive tastes nowadays - we used tunnel make up, teenagers nowadays use MAC and othe rexpensive brands that I can’t wven afford as a grown up!

Therein lies the lesson.
If you want MAC etc, get a part time job to fund it.
Otherwise you have to get the cheaper stuff.
Teenagers willl survive if they don't have the expensive stuff.

Anyway, lLets face it, teenagers don't really need all that expensive makeup.They have young skin and faces. They don't need all that contouring rip off bullshit.

My DS gets £80 a month, which includes money to buy all his lunches at 6th form.

Hope he doesn't see this thread!

I'd be a bit worried what he spends the current £80 on.

1. Is the house full of expensive trainers and fashion? I mean full to the tune of several thousand pounds a year.
2. Drink, fags or drugs
3. Online gambling

That’s more than I have to spend on myself after bills etc and I have to buy my own clothes and toiletries. You’re bonkers OP. Cut him off and make him get a job!

I do pay for my dds phone and her lunches. Her lunches are about £25 a week and her phone is £30 a month, so thats the equivalent of about £180 a month.

She also has a horse which I pay for . She works one night in the local pub, iirc she earns about £100 a month from that.