POCKET MONEY! How much do you give? What age? What "Duties"?

[QuintessentialShadows]

At what age do you start giving your children pocket money?

How much do you give?
Do they have any "duties"?

My ds (6) gets £2 a week and is expected to help lay and clear the table, tidy away toys and put his dirty clothes in the laundry. We initially started it as there was alot of pestering about wanting this and that. I have to say it's worked a treat! Ds now saves up for his own toys and has learn't to think about what he really wants.

My dd (12) gets a fiver for a basketful of ironing

ds's get 50p a week each from their grandma when they start/ed primary school.

Ds1 (6) has just started getting another £1 a week from me and dp, as long as he clears the table after every tea time. He takes his job very seriously and part of the deal is no moaning about having to do it, or he doesn't get the £1

DS is 5 but I havent started with pocket money yet - may start next year when I think they cover the topic at school to tie it in with that. I prefer to treat him at the moment to things I know he will like and he rarely asks for anything.

When we do start, I personally wont link it to jobs as I hope DS will continue to be tidy without being paid to do so. Haha may be eating those words in the next few years

The whole topic as surfaced over the last month, when there has been lots of work in the garden. I got this idea to give him one penny for each pebble he was able to pick up from the lawn, there were lots of pebbles after winter (for making an icy yard non-slippery, and then being shifted over to the lawn by next enormous snowfall, again and again). He picked lots of pebbles, lined them up on the garden table, in 10 piles of 10 pebbles each. It amounted to £8. He did a very good job. Then he got the idea he wanted to save up for a new lego set, and I gave him 1 penny for each strawberry plant he watered (as I was planting) and he now has £12. He is asking for more work.

It has been a good exercise as they have had money, shopping, and clubbing together to buy expensive items in shops, as a topic in school. He has also seen the direct relation between work and earning money.

I feel now that instead of letting my 6 year old work, maybe it is time to move on to set duties and a weekly allowance, of say 70 pence.

I am not sure what duties to give him?

And also, now that he has tasted "a good salary" and he is actually saving for something that costs £49 I dont want to take his joy for work away for him, so I suppose he could still earn a little for doing extra gardening work? He has just now been out with my a few hours in the garden, and he has watered 20 more newly planted strawberry plants, thus earning 20 pence.

What do you think? Am I complicating things?

At the age of 6, ds was expected to do his "good manners" chores and we gave him £1 a week. This rose by 50p every birthday until he was 10 and the price list was formed.

DS (now 12) does not get pocket money from us, instead we have worked out a price list:
Make a cup of tea = 50p (but it is always Buy One Get One Free )
Empty the dishwasher = 75p
Walk the dog £1.50
Water the plants £1
etc etc etc

There are certain chores he HAS to do for free (make his bed, clear the table) as I class them as "good manners" and I expect him to do them daily anyway.

It does work, especially if he is saving up for something

We started at 5, which for us was beginning of Reception. We go on the "10p per year of life" approach, although that is a bit on the low side, I think (DS is now nearly 7).

He does not have set chores and we are big on both DCs helping around the house but there is an understanding about rewards and responsibilites - that you get pocket money as you get older but you are expected to contribute to things as well. He likes it as a way of differentiating him from his younger sister.

Ds is Fiscally Prudent, and it has worked well for us so far!

We have also made deals where we have contributed to something if he saves for half of it - bless him, he saved £12 towards a light sabre, which took A-G-E-S.

I was wondering (in advance, dd is only 4.5) about this. I like the idea of a basic sum plus being able to earn extra bits for special work, as in the strawberry plants....

...dd is already learning to make her bed (ish), clear her plate and tidy her own toys, and I don't plan to link that sort of self-responsibility to money. But helping me with my chores, or dh with his, would be a good way to teach her about earning and saving up

ps Quint, I posted to you on the asthma thread on Health, not sure its ok to mention that in totally different section but we have diagnoses in common, or our LOs do!

my ds has had pocket money since he was 4. it started off as £1 which he got at the end of our shopping trip if he had been good. (christmas shopping time).
it has gone up slowly and so has what he is expected to do in order to earn it. he now gets 3.25 and is 9. for this he has to make his bed each day, tidy his room (to my standards not his!) and hoover it each day. he is also expected to lay the table for mealtimes and help me to tidy away after we have eaten. as well as good manners.
i pay him extra if he helps me with extra chores, putting the rubbish down, hoovering, helping me pack shopping at the supermarket, or whatever