Pocket Money for 13 year old- how much?

[BigFishLittleFish10]

Just wondering how much pocket money you give your teens/tweens per week or month? DH and I have been inconsistent with DS pocket money and generally give him money when we can but he’s started to run up a weekly debt in his head! 🙈

He’s on the spectrum so I think he would benefit from more consistency and a definite amount every week.

Thanks!

It depends on what you can afford and what it would need to cover. I gave mine (who is now 15) a bit more than most people probably but he orders various wires he needs for his tech and pays if he goes out with friends so I basically give him a monthly allowance and then he manages his money for the month and all I do is feed him. Started as I was skint but helps us both budget as I feel that he is covered apart from food, his phone and his tutor which I obviously pay for.

It depends what you want him to be responsible for buying.
Some parents leave it to their teens to buy body spray etc but others just add it to the weekly shop.
You need to decide what you are prepared to always provide (so to me that's clothes, toiletries, bus fares, anything needed for school etc) and then the pocket money is just for extras (snacks on the way home from school, Pokémon cards etc).

I give him £120 a month but it started at £100 when he was 13 I think.

It depends what they are expected to buy for themselves. With our eldest, we started with just giving her what we thought was reasonable for socialising (£10 a week I think at 12) and then gave her more a couple of years later but that was to include most clothes too.
It also depends if they get any other money from elsewhere.

£13 : it's logical and index-linked as it goes up on his birthday. Or you could put it up to £13.50 six months after his birthday (we did this because our kids were born approx 6 months apart, so it meant they both increased at the same time.)
Whether you make that per week or per month depends on your financial circumstances and what he is expected to buy with it. Or if it is meant to be more of an allowance , then just add a zero for £130 per month etc:

Mine gets £60 a month into their bank account, and they manage it well.

I started at 2 years old, not linked to chores. She has chores, they just aren't linked. Age every fortnight. So 13/2 a week for a 13 yo.

That's pure fun money, though. If they are buying clothes, managing phone or gym contracts, anything household like toiletries, it would be more.

We pay for -
His phone (monthly contract)
His clothes and shoes
All toiletries
Swimming lessons
£8.99 each month on Robux

His pocket money would be for any extras/going out/saving up for big items etc.

My 13yo gets £3/week. It’s pretty much just for sweets. They don’t complain and I pay for pretty much everything, food, clothes, phone, Minecraft subscription etc. Am I being dead tight?

My 13 yr old gets £5, my 15 yr old gets £10 per week

We have been loosely giving him £10 per week but I’ve always said that some weeks he might have less or that it’s not always possible to give him that much (fun money) but I think having an exact amount each week is better.

Not linked to chores either as I do get him to help out etc.

My 14 yr old doesn't get pocket money.
We pay for all his essentials (phone, food, clothes etc). He has (loads of!) money in his bank from Christmas and birthdays that never gets spent - he has a debit card so can access it whenever he wants.
If he's meeting friends we'll give him money for food/drinks/cinema etc.

My 13yo gets £20 a month. I buy everything he needs and if there is a friend's birthday or specific outing, I give him what he needs so it's just for things he might want to buy for fun. I'd probably give more if I could afford it but he has never complained that it's not enough.

My 14yo gets the child benefit, rounded down, so £100pm. I buy her needs and her basic wardrobe. That's for all her extras and socialising.

Partly because I want her to have enough, but with limits, and partly because I live in a London boundary county and don't want her to be tempted by gangs and County lines by having no money so seeing that as a route to access some.

£10/week plus phone paid for, clothes and shoes paid for, activities paid for, bus fares etc paid for. I give extra if they want to go out for some food with a friend or for a cinema ticket or whatever.

Maybe start with a tenner and see how it goes.