How much pocket money - and should they have to 'earn' it?

[Gumbo]

At the weekend I visited my SIL who has 2 DS's - the elder one is 7, the younger one 4. The older child was telling me how much pocket money he gets and what he has to do to get it (which was verified by his mother).

He gets 50p every day. For this he has to put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket, and try to remember his kit for the after-school activities he does each day. The younger child gets 20p 3 or 4 times a week.

Personally I think this is extortionate! However, I don't have a 7 year-old; my DS is just about to turn 4, and I've been thinking he is far too young to get pocket money - what on earth could he spend it on, after all? Also, I think that household chores should be compulsory... but I'm not sure whether pocket money should be dependant on them being done?

I'd be interested to see how much other people give their children of this sort of age, and whether they have to 'earn' it.

Gumbo - our DS1 is 7 and doesn't get pocket money and yes he still has to help out around the house. Admittedly he doesn't do much but he does sort his own laundry, help make his bed, help tidy his room, turns off (& occasionally when he wants to) empties the washing machine and other little bits and bobs.

One of the reasons we don't give him pocket money is because he gets everything he needs from us. When he gets older and starts asking for specific things then DH and I may think about pocket money but this would definitely be dependent on him getting specified chores done.

I've never understood why parents give their children pocket money when they're still little.

That's sort of what I was thinking - what would they spend it on? I'm all in favour of teaching children to manage money, but surely at that age they get bought whatever they need anyway?

I think they have to tidy their room ....PERIOD.
no payment for that
i only give PM to secondary aged kids and dh decreed it was to be linked to extra tasks and enough to be able to buy a comic some sweets and a bit left over.

SO ds1 (11) gets £4 a wek dependant on recyclingand bin duties and putting away washing for me.

its suspended atm after he lost something i had to buy,

agree Gumbo, unless you arent going to buy them new things what is the point?

£4 isenough to eb able to save up for something relatively big in 4 weeks which is a long ish time for a year 7

Juan - I agree with you that 4GBP (sorry don't have an English keyboard) is plenty for them to be able to save up for something they consider significant in a short period of time. Although I bet the waiting for them must be dreadful When I was your DS's age I used to get a pound note every Saturday morning ..... aahhh, those were the days

IMO the few "jobs" that DS1 does around the house doesn't entitle him to pocket money, they're just things that he should help out with.

JMT, that's interesting that you do actually stop the money if you deem it to be necessary. My SIL admitted that she would never actually do that - so I'm not sure what the point of an empty threat is...

oh he is currently servin hsi second sentence for lost items
last one was buss pass (£20) and htis one is a new phone for a lost one, he accepts it as fair tbh

DS1 (11) gets 3.50 pounds. He has to do jobs like putting clothes in laundry, keeping bedroom tidy and drying up and this is not linked to chores - part of living in a family. He can subsidise his income by ironing!! 10p an article and worth every penny!! DS2 (8) gets 1 pound per week. DD (6) oesn't get any pocket money - doesn't need it, also at 6, the tooth fairy is a frequent visitor!

3.7 yr old DS has just started getting pocket money. 10p a week, mainly done to limit his requests for sweets each time we go to village shop. He is slowly learning that once he has spent it its gone.

He is expected to take and distribute cutlery to table and get cereal boxes out in morning. Those are his "jobs" and we do point out that pocket money is conditional on those jobs being done when asked.

I don't think pocket money should have to be earned. I believe kids need to learn to help out around the house out of general courtesy.

We have just started giving ds (5) pocket money because it seems to be the best way to get him to learn that money isn't endless & deal with the endless requests for toys.

My 5yo gets 50p a week. He spends it on things that I don't buy him such as gogos and hotwheel cars. He has to save for 2-3 weeks to buy himself something small but atm he is saving for some lego and has got over £10 which I am quite impressed with but £2 of that was given to him by someone else. He doesn't have to earn it but he is expected to do basic things around the house such as set the table and put his own laundry away.

His friends are very into gogos and hotwheels to so his pocket money allows him to join in with that without me buying him presents, which I don't like to do except bday and christmas

I don't agree with what the OP's SIL is doing.

Starting getting pocket money was one of ds1's 7th birthday presents because he then had the numeracy skills to manage money. We do not expect him to earn it, it is part of being a child. We expect his participation in household jobs as a matter of course. Naturally we praise and thank him when he does thigns.

Recently he asked if he could do jobs to earn more money for somethign he particularly wants. We agreed a 'contract': if he raked the leaves off the lawn when asked, he would be paid 20p; if he kept the lawn raked unasked, but it was clear on the weekend, he would be paid £1 no matter how many times he raked. He liked that idea - particularly the fact that he could earn more for fewer rakings. However, he hasn't raked even once, including when asked.

We will do the same with the rest of our dc, ie give them pocket money when their arithemtic is good enough, and not expect them to 'earn' it.

DS1 (just turned 6) earns stars which translate into money. Starts are earned anytime he tidies up without being asked to, is responsible for all of his school gear without my prompting, practices his maths, practices his piano, brushes his teeth twice a day and several other ways.

There are 3 stars per pound, and he usually earns 12 stars a week. These stars are used to buy toys, gogos, and whatever knick-knacks he fancies. He has been really good and usually saves enough stars to buy a lego set. Since we started this system, we do not buy him any toys or goodies except for birthdays or holidays. If he has been particularly good, we award him extra stars.

I never had an allowance until university and never learned how to budget money. I wish to teach my son the lesson of budgeting and delayed gratification, and this system works for us. Plus, he feels really proud when he has earned enough money to buy a really big Lego kit, and pays with his own cash.

PrettyCandles, I like the idea of your approach. (I don't like how my SIL's doing it either).

I'm also interested that nobody else seems to be giving their 7yo anything like as much as my nephew gets - perhaps it depends where you live? (They're in London..)

We're also in london. but we give our ds (7) 50p a week, mainly because i found he was asking me for things constantly, extra things that i dont feel he really needs. so we want to teach him that everything costs money and theres only a certain amount you can have, its up to him how to spend it and wether to save it for something bigger. it teaches him the value of making choices and living with the outcomes. he loves the idea of feeling abit grownup, and was taking money from my purse before this. since getting pocketmoney he doesn't do this, as he feels he has some control over something, which is his.