To say no to Claire’s?

[Brokebackretail]

Basically my children aged 6 and 9 want to spend all their pocket money in Claire’s.

Everything they buy ends up broken within a week or two as it's such poor quality.

I want to give them autonomy with their money, and wanted them to change their mind about Claire’s themselves, but there's no sign of that.

Should I outlaw Claire’s and direct them to better quality stuff, or do I let them continue shopping there even though I hate it?

YANBU - outlaw Claire’s!
YABU - let them spend where they want

I am long past the Claire’s stage but I think that banning anything instantly makes it more attractive. I like what people have suggested about having a wait period before buying.
Ass that they are buying in store and not online then I would try to reduce their ability to buy there by not going there. Take them to some shops where they will see stuff which is better made, more ethically produced and possibly less blingy. You could offer occasionally to put something towards a purchase you thought more desirable. You could encourage them to record what they spend money on, to talk about the idea that money can only be spent once.

I vote let them.

One of mine had a Claire’s phase and is very quality conscious as a result. It takes time to make the connections, but if they can figure it out and tell you, instead of you interfering and lecturing them, it is an impactful learning experience.

The other one spent his pocket money on the add ons on an online game for a few months. And now he is so clear headed about the advertising and pressures, in gaming. It took him time to put it together for himself but he’s been much more influential on his dsis and dfs than an adult would be.

This would be the ideal outcome! And the main why I'm really not sure about banning Claire’s. I just feel so guilty about the amount of plastic rubbish it's creating in the interim

It’s truly hell on earth. And the pricing strategy of buy 3 get 3 free (but doesn’t include this thing or this thing or that brand or that price point) is extremely hard to explain to kids. They really do us parents a dirty on that one.
However… the high street doesn’t have many options for kids these days to spend their pocket money; no newsagents or penny sweets left so I reluctantly let them buy. Within reason. My 12 year old is thankfully out of it. I hate that kids are forced to buy online as the thrill and appreciation is gone as it’s an instant click that then just magically arrives!
Plus they know how much I hate it so when they got stuff from Claire’s from Santa it really kept the dream alive as they knew I would never buy from there! 😉

What about Tiger? DS likes looking around. Stuff is decent,

Do you apply this rule to yourself as well.

What stopped mine buying shit was not getting them many things at Xmas/birthdays. They then had to save for stuff they really wanted.

I also wouldn't take them to Claire's every week, unless they can walk to it surely you can say no to that bit.

YANBU. They're aren't too young to learn about fast fashion and waste. They're your kids, the money comes from you so can have some control over how they spend. If they're desperate for Claire's perhaps encourage them towards buying it from vinted or charity shops. We absolutely encourage thoughtful spending in our house.

I think there’s a ‘Claire’s phase’ and it’ll no doubt be something that gives them a bit of ‘cred’ at school. It’ll almost definitely pass once they stop being tweens. Assuming we’re talking about small bits of money here and there, I’d let them figure it out for themselves.

I have jewellery I bought from Claire’s when I was a teenager (I’m now 40!) and it’s still going strong. Bit discoloured now but not broken. And yes I still occasionally wear it.
Maybe it used to be better quality?

You're not doing that with Claire's! That kind of stuff you need to be sourcing from aliexpress/temu.

You should be teaching them to save for something bigger.

At that age one of mine wanted an orange bike, so we worked through how he could buy it. I made sure It was a good brand (frog) that would hold its value for resale.

We discussed how much pocket money he would need, how long it would take to save, and also an impending birthday and how to politely ask for money instead of a gift (he was being asked what he wanted, and grandparents were happy, so it was an easy switch). We also discussed buying it second hand or new.
The bike was eventually bought, loved and when he grew out of it sold on ebay and the money went into his savings account. He has also done the same as a teenager.

In more recent years he and his brother saved for a games console they wanted. Showing them the resale aspect (selling old console on ebay with games and accessories, saving, working for extra money like car washing....all comes together.)

I know this is not what you asked at all, but if there's a Repair Cafe near you, your kids can take their stuff along to be fixed- actually quite fun and they get their stuff mended!

Yes.

There’s me wondering what Claire’s is. Never heard of it. The only reason I clicked on the thread was because I wondered who Claire was. Now off to ask google…

Mine went through this stage and also a smiggle phase. If anything I found smiggle to be even worse quality than Claire’s, dreadful.
Just wanted to say that things do get broken by small kids no matter how careful!

Proper waste of money let my kid drop her own spends there too once and same all crappy broke soon after so it’s a no from here too

Teach them shoplifting, that means they have the items they want and their money. Win win 🤭

I'm joking obviously, I agree with a compromise. Half spent in Claire's, half saved.

It’s absolute tat. Of course if breaks quickly

Let them spend it on what they want. I wasn't a fan of Claire's either, i found it overpriced for what it is, but wee girls love it and my daughter was no different. As she got a little bit older she was more reluctant to spend the money in there and more careful about what she was buying. She was the same with Robux - blew it the first couple of times she had it and then started to be more careful, and once spent her birthday money in Build A Bear despite warnings that everything she was buying was going to wipe the lot out. She never done that again. Your children will get there too, they will learn for themselves.

Also just let them enjoy it. Not absolutely everything has to be a teaching moment. Don't suck the fun out of it like some are suggesting.

I feel your pain!
We went through this - but with Smiggle rather than Claire's. Always found the stuff in there massively over priced and we had lots of breakages.
We encouraged the spend half save half rule and the half that got spent I didn't restrict where it got spent.
If you talk about the poor quality etc it will be a lesson for them going forward. And the phase passes (quicker than you'd imagine!)

Have a period say a couple of months where they don't go there. Hopefully they will never want to go back. No one is too young to understand about the environmental impact of things that don't last, nor of the trade off between price and quality.

Try smuggle for pencil cases. My kids loved it and bit better quality

Smiggle

Teach them the thirds, third to enjoy, third to save, third to be useful. So perhaps a third on something from Claires, a third towards something they can save, a third towards whatever they consider to be useful. It's teach them that money doesn't grow on trees, hold back the Claire obsession and at the same time encourage them to use the money they have saved for something larger they really want.

Their pocket money, their choice (of course nothing dangerous or illegal)

We did put a cooling off rule in place, if it was more that 1-2 weeks worth of pocket money, they had to sleep over it (parents usually don't buy anything worth more than a months salary on a whim).

Yes, Claires is low quality, if you take care of it, it might not break/deteriorate quite as quickly. Are they upset when the stuff breaks? Or don't they really care? You should discuss quality vs. price. And discuss motive for buying, why do they "need" to have this? Also show them researching options, or buying 2nd hand eg. flea markets, boot sales. When they are a bit older: do they really need a brand name t-shirt/shoes/etc. or does a noname work just as well? We sometimes negotiated: parents buy noname/basic item, they can top up for brand name...

In the end pocket money is a mechanism to develop a healthy attitude to money and spending. And money is only worth something when it is spent, not sitting in the piggy bank. Enjoy!