Pocket money.

[thehumanjam]

I know it's been done to death previously but I could do with advice. I have two boys one secondary school age and the other in the infant school. We started giving ds1 pocket money when he was younger but never really stuck to it and I'm not sure what the best method is.

Ds1 doesn't spend much. His friends aren't yet at the stage of meeting at cinema etc they are still at the skate park stage which means that ds doesn't spend money on socialising. He doesn't want clothes I buy him the basics a couple of times a year and he doesn't ask for more. We have a large family so they end up getting a fair bit at Xmas and birthdays which generally means that they have enough toys and games to last the whole year. When ds is in 6th form he will probably do the challenge trip so he could put money towards that and is thinking of getting a paper round to help towards this. He has also said he would like to save so he can buy an xbox.

Ds2 is only little but has asked about pocket money because his friends get it. I expect he would spend it on plastic tat.

Not sure where to start. We stopped giving ds1 pocket money a few years ago because we forgot to keep it up and he didn't really need it.

What does everyone else do?

We started giving all of ours oney from their 7th birthdays - around the age we felt they could understand the valus of coins and do the aths of how many weeks saving to buy this or that.
In Primary they had 10p pw for each yr of age (so started with 70p a week) the in secondary had £1 per month per yr of age (so my 13 yr old gets £13 per month.
They u derstood the visible fairness of getting the allocated a ount and that over the years thewould all get the same.

That's a good idea. When we did it first time round we did something similar but ended up giving too much. I linked it to school year and did it per week. Ds was in year 4 or 5 and I was giving £5 per week which was way too much.

Do you link it to chores?

I put a standing order into DS bank account. That way they do not spend it until they are older and understand money.

Mine never had the need as I provided all they wanted. Money for trips out with mates. New Xbox games etc. I offered they said no don't need it.

Mine are 5&7 and get £1 a week provided they tidy up after themselves/clean when I ask without a fuss