Pocket money for a 13 year old

[margesimpson81]

My DS is 13, and I currently give him £2 a week. He was okay with this for a long time, but recently he's been complaining that this isn't enough, his friends get more. He doesn't really go out much, prefers tochat on PS4 with his friends. When he does go to the movies, bowling, things like that we give him money, but he has to pay for any snacks or drinks. I assume the money would mostly be spent on video games. He doesn't have to do many chores, just clean his room and walk the dog. But to any other parents out there - What do you give your 13 year olds? Is £2 enough?

No pocket money here. But if he goes out we pay ie cinema, funfair, chips with friends.
Adds up to a bit some months and others hardly anything.

My 2 (age 12 and 15) get £25 a month into their bank accounts. £2 sounds a bit paltry

Get him to start doing chores for money - the more helpful he is the more he can earn.
My 12 yr old gets £3 a week but for that he has to empty the dishwasher, water the garden and put his clothes in the laundry basket and not scatter them all over his bedroom floor! I will give him extra if he helps wash my car for example and this week he got an extra £5 for a really good school report.

You can't get a lot with £2!

15yo gets £4-5 (depending on if I have the change - sometimes he gets lucky!) but I pay for his phone contract (about the same again for unlimited data) and buy his monthly hobby magazine, on top of that. The £4-5 mostly goes on chocolate and occasional stationery.

DS, just turned 14. Gets £40/month.

£2 is nothing, like you say, you have to find his days out.

Mine wouldn't even get the bus into town for £2

I would be cautious of linking money to chores as well. They should muck in as part of the household. And if they get a part time job they may decide not to bother with the chores because they are getting paid by someone else.

Both my DDs got a Saturday job in a local cafe and 13. Both still there now 17/18.

Don’t do pocket money but do pay their basic phone bill. But they supply their own phones.

Mine are 14 and 12.
They get £5 a week.
For that they have a weekly timetable of jobs. Most are jobs connected to them such as make bed and put all washing away every day, get school bags ready the night before etc. It includes a tidy of room once a week and a proper bedroom clean with dust and hoover once a week.
They also have to pack away everything they have had out at the end of each day.
Finally they each have to hoover all downstairs room once a week each.

I think £2 plus extra going out money is fine. I give my nearly 13 yo £2.50 and don’t intend to put it up for a while.

Ds (13) gets £10 a week plus £10 a month phone top up. For that he has to keep his room tidy, clean it on a Saturday, unload the dishwasher, bring the bins back up the drive, make sure his clothes go in the laundry basket and any other jobs I may find during the week! With his pocket money he pays for all trips out (unless family trips), 10% of school trip costs, any unnecessary clothing (eg he has 2 hoodies but wants a third!), any unnecessary food (eg he wants to get a Burger King even though I have offered a cooked meal before or after going out) and a small gift for mine and his sisters birthday and Christmas. I buy him all school uniform (he replaces it if he loses it), all toiletries (don't want him being the stinky kid!!), clothes (though not always labels) and his music lessons.

It’s completely dependent on:

• what you expect it to fund
• your income

There’s no right or wrong surely. If he’s unhappy talk to him about why - and ensure he’s comparing like for like. As in maybe a friend does get £5 a week but does he have to fund his own cinema etc...

I give my 9 year old that! I think it's not much at that age tbh.

£28 every 4 weeks, has to put the bin out, pick up dog poo and wash the pots when I ask

Even if you pay for the cinema £2.00 is not much for a snack and a drink. Don't think he could buy annything in the cinema and will take his whole week's allowance. 13 year olds are starting to hang out with friends a bit and its hard if they are the ones who always have no money. Our 13 year old grandson plays badminton at the local sports centre which is obviously paid by his parents but he and his friends cycle there themselves now and sometimes like to buy pizza afterwards. That comes out of his pocket money so he does it some of the time but chooses not to others but definitely wouldn't be able to choose to do this with £2. He gets more but when it's gone it's gone so hopefully helping him manage money for later.

My 13 year old gets £15 per week from us.

We have go Henry for our children, they get £5 a week pocket money but can earn extra for chores listed on go Henry that they can tick off when they've done them. If they did all the jobs they could earn an extra £7 a week x

Just to clarify my children are 12, 15, and 17 x

My 11yr old has £20 paid into her account every month. She hardly spends any of it and loves to watch it build up on her app.
I like that it's teaching budgeting and saving.

My 13 and 15 year olds have a list of chores to do and they get £20 each per week. It sounds like a lot but they have to pay for anywhere they go e.g.. cinema, Subway, town etc. They also have to buy any clothes out of this that are over and above the basics. So, I'll buy school uniform and basic shoes/ trainers etc but they have to top up the extra if they want the expensive trainers etc. I was spending 20 quid a week on them anyway so my rationale was that at least this makes them more responsible for how they spend their money; they have to decide whether they really need the Nike tracksuit and if so they buy it.

So OP, 2 quid doesn't sound a lot but it depends how much he's expected to buy with that.

And as PPs hqve said, going to the cinema is 8 quid and you can't get a drink and snack there for less than a fiver then you need bus fare etc. So money really doesn't go very far.

@Kyriesmum1

Why at those ages do you pay for go Henry?

Ours use Santander mini123 accounts costs noting and they get interest.

I would never pay for go Henry either. From age 11 they can get a current account with a debit card for nothing. My 2 also have Santander mini123 accounts (age 12 and 15)

I use go Henry because I can control and monitor their spending, they have their own bank accounts too which they use for savings so will draw money off go Henry and pay into their accounts. My 17 year old also has an isa now she is receiving pip and working and has been saving up for driving lessons. The go Henry cards do cost money but I like them and think it's worth the money as can set chores on there and limit where they can spend their money (more for younger ones that the older ones) we also foster so is great for monitoring the little ones spending and they feel grown up having a card to pay for things.

My DS 14 has £10 a week plus extra for good behaviour