Do you give your 11 year old pocket money?

[newyearsresolurion]

If so how much ? I pay for her lunch and bus fair online so I've never really given her pocket money. I've given her some money when she has asked to go to the shops after school with here friend to get snacks occasionally.

Ours gets £10 a month. He rarely spends it all.

I don’t. I pay for lunches online, activities. I do give regular amounts of money so twice a week where he has an activity shortly after school he gets a couple of quid to buy snacks.

I’ll buy stuff if he needs it, or extras so a ten pound gift .( or a tenner in a card now) if going to a friends party. If there’s something additional he wants (or even money to save) then it’s chores there’s always stuff that needs done, stacking wood, weeding drive, hoovering car type stuff.

She's 10 and has got a chore chart and get £0/£5/£10 a week depending on how useful she's been.

The money never gets spent, just builds up in her bank account. If she needs something we just tend to give her the cash separately.

The pocket money was just a means to getting her involved in household tasks, which has continued for a few years now.

Ds2 gets £5/week into his account now he's in secondary school. He only really ever spends it with his friends in the shop after school every so often so he's saving it in reality.

11 year olds need to start getting used to the idea of budgeting and having to decide what they need as opposed to what they want and the idea of saving up for things. Once at secondary school they will start developing a social life that requires them to have some money eg for cinema, lunch and shopping with friends. Before you know it they will be off to uni and will definitely have to know how to manage their money. I’m all for earning money by doing chores but they should also receive a set allowance - according to how much you can afford and what it has to pay for.

£6 a week plus at the moment plus phones paid for.

£5 a week on a Monday since he started secondary. I pay bus fares and provide snacks/lunch. He told me he has £9 left from the past 3 weeks so £6 spent. He buys the odd sausage roll or cookie or drink. Usually food, sure this will change as he gets older. His big sister never has a penny to her name and is always looking for more money, just about to put her on a full allowance to cover clothes etc so she can learn to budget. Will start that over the summer I think.

Almost 11, year 6, £1 a week. Uses it to buy sweets at the village shop/football stickers. We might increase in Sept when he goes to secondary.

My 10 year old gets £20 a month. She’s a collector and is always after something so this way she’s not asking for things all the time and is learning the value of money and waiting and saving. Before she thought I was a bottomless pit but now it’s her money she has a much better understanding.

£5 a week plus extras for good school reports or being extra helpful at home.

Thanks for replies!!

I was starting to worry I was mean as DD (Yr 6) gets £1.50 a week! But we are about to start paying for a phone for her so it won't increase for a while!

DS gets what I consider a generous allowance of £8 per week (he's 13). My basic rule is if he genuinely NEEDS something - I pay for it so food at school, transport, hobbies, basic clothes, toiletries etc. If he wants extra of anything... that's on him. So I'm not paying when him and his buddies go to the corner shop after school. I'm not paying when he decides he wants some ridiculous hair product outside of the everyday products I've already bought him. If he has sufficient clothes, I'm not paying for that extra hoodie that he just has to have. And I don't pay for the random extra things he wants eg new headphones or a different football. And sometimes he uses this money or birthday/christmas money to top up the cost of things - eg I'll happily buy him trainers, and I can afford to buy relatively nice ones, but I'm not paying for those £120 jobs. So if he wants those, I'll pay the £60 I would have spent, and he can toss in the rest. That actually happens quite a bit.

I DO give him a bit of money in the longer holidays to pay for cinema tickets or if he's going to an amusement park with friends or similar, but it's limited and he knows that - usually just £20 or so.

Just turned 12 year old here and in S1 at secondary. He’s been getting £4 a week for the last year. If he goes out with friends he uses it for swimming entry or lunch ( Greggs etc). He doesn’t always spend it but I feel it’s important he learns to manage money and if he wants something he knows he has to save up.

It’s interesting you say that as I think so too. I don’t know if my kids are spoilt or content to be honest . My uncle gave them each one hundred pounds at Christmas rather than a gift and I asked if there was anything they wanted and they were very meh so have stuck it in their savings for now. My 14 yo is the same not bothered about clothes or trainers I suppose he budgets his lunch over the week but doesn’t want or buy anything although has access to money. Happy enough to stick what he’s given into savings but not bothered about doing chores for extra.