Who does this money belong to ?

[BurpeesAreTheWorkOfTheDevil]

You give a child (9) £10 for spending money on school trip.
Child spends £6.

Who does the £4 belong to?

The parent or the child?

Child for many of the good reasons given above.
You could ask if they want to save it for their next day out.

Child

The parent.

Child, unless the parent asked for any change back to be returned Before giving them the money.

We worked out a system recently where if £5 might not be enough but £10 is likely too much, that I give 5 and he adds 5 of his own, which invariably comes back intact. Last time he spent 4 so the pound went in his school change wallet.

I'd ask for it back.

thanks if my child hasn't given the change to a charity before getting home.

my ds9 has a habbit of giving any change he has left over to the charity box when I send him to the shop. I know this as I work n know the people there. we're not talking a few pence here ethier.

he once put 6 quid in there, which doesn't sound a lot to some but at the time I needed it. it's hard to be angry and tell them off.

which is hard because I want him to be kind, considerate and have empathy but at the same time.... I need my change.

WE have a pot of coins that the dc use for things like cake sales, mufti days etc... any money unspent from school trips goes back into this pot. Dc are quite happy with this plan and don’t spend unnecessarily.

Surely that question is something you clarify as you hand the money over?
"Here, honey, have some spending money, it's yours."
"Here, honey, buy what you fancy and return the change to me".

Parent. All of mine would have given back the change - after some negotiation with the youngest!

If they spent it all that wouldn't be a problem either.

Either approach is OK as long as you are consistent.

The child (unless the money was to buy something specific or if the parent told the child they had to give a certain amount of change). Otherwise it just encourages buying junk.

Let's face it, if you give them £10 for a school trip then a rubber and a pencil from the gift shop, plus an ice cream is probably going to cost that anyway, but whatever change would be the parent's'.

Parent.

Our kids know we expect any change back. We don't need to specify this - not sure if we ever did or if they just realised themselves that the change needs to be given back. In return they know that we are pretty good at handing over cash if they ask for spending money for trips etc. If they were spending the entire amount on things I thought were just taking the piss and wanting to spend it all, or if they were keeping the change themselves then I'd pretty quickly be reducing the amount I gave them.

Child in our house. But I always stipulate, “only buy something if you really like it, otherwise just bring it home for your money box.”

Child

Child. It’s a bizarre lesson to give them an amount and then teach them if they don’t waste it on frivolities they have to give what they’ve saved back.

Thankfully they aren't sly or selfish and it wouldn't occur to them to underspend to keep the change, they realise i don't have money to waste and would only buy what they needed on the trip

Do you really see not spending a full £10 in a gift shop as sly or selfish?! How odd. My DD regularly comes home from school trips with change because she didnt see anything she fancied or she bought one smaller thing.

If you want them to spend less, give them less.

Sometimes I give my dcs more money than normal because we are not sure how much they will need and in those cases I'd expect the change. Other times they get the money and it's all theirs, it really depends what my thinking was at the time.

My DS (11 yrs old) will always offer me the change. I always tell him that he may keep the change. I think it demonstrates good manners that he offers me the money back, but I always assume the money is no longer mine once I have handed it to him.

The child.
If I give them 10 euro then I give them that amount to spend as they wish. If they choose to only spend 6 euro then that's their choice, the change is still theirs because I gave them the full 10 euro. If I couldn't afford 10 then I'd give them less.

Child, uness the parent said 'Your spending money is £6, but as I don't have anything smaller, I expect 4 back from the tenner'

It depends. If I give my child a sizeable sum of money for a trip or event it is because I can't be sure what things will cost and don't want them to be caught short. In that scenario I expect to know what they have bought, what it cost and expect the change.

Otherwise I give them a few pounds if I know that is enough and don't expect the change.

It would be the child's here. Dd rarely bought anything on school trips because she knew that the money was hers so she would use it for something she wanted when she got home. It's a bad life lesson where a child doesn't benefit from sensible spending IMO.

It's not as easy as just giving them the correct amount you want them to spend.

I gave DC a fiver each to take to the school disco, not because I expected them to spend five quid on sweets, but because who has the correct amount of change always?! I said I'm giving you a fiver but don't spend it all, get yourself a couple of drinks and some sweets and I want some change.

So yes, it depends what was said.

Child

Child should be well mannered enough to offer it back, parent should thank the child for being so thoughtful and as a reward child keeps the £4