Board, how much?

[crosser62]

Ds aged 16 has begun an apprenticeship.
He is very very well paid on this apprenticeship.
Highly sought after, highly competitive very few places.

We haven’t discussed it, half joked about paying board.
I have taken him to the bank to open an account and a savings account and have insisted that he put a percentage of his pay away monthly towards a big holiday we have planned (spending money for him) and driving lessons/car next year.
He is happy to do this.

Is paying board a valuable life lesson or is it mean?
He can well afford tho pay a percentage each month and have plenty left over as disposable each month.

I think its an important part of joining the world of work. It's up to you if you genuinely need the money to pay the household bills, or if you choose to save it to give back when he buys a house though.

That doesn't seem fair considering he is still a child. Maybe when he's 18, yeah...

My mum made my brother and me pay board of £30 per week each when he was 17 and I was 19. It was a valuable life lesson and we are both good with money now.

It's up to you whether you keep the money and give back to him but I think it is important for all kids to learn budgeting and weekly/monthly payments so they don't blow all their salaries in the first week.

I don't charge mine. Everyone says it's a valuable life lesson, but people can and do succeed at life without paying board when they are 16.

At 18 son paid £20pw but we gave this back to him when he bought a house at 23. We were fortunate that we could do this but I know other parents who lose £100+ a week and really struggle financially when their child enters full time employment. Every case is different.

As he will already be saving a significant amount each month, it would help if he contributed towards the household bills.
I was thinking maybe £20-30 a week which he can well afford and wouldn’t make any impact on his disposable monthly income.
It would be for bills.

Feel mean though.

Surely you'd get that from the child benefit you probably claim for him, which you're entitled to until he's 18... he's still a child. Just because he's earning a decent wage through an apprenticeship (which has has to do or be in education until he's 18) doesn't mean you should be taking money from him. By all means, teach him how to spend his money and save wisely.

YABU.

No I do t get child benefit as it isn’t a recognised educational continuum. Child benefit has stopped.
Thanks but I wasn’t asking if I was being unreasonable I was asking if it’s a life skill or mean.

I think it's mean at 16.

Alright... it's not unreasonable it's mean 🥴

I think it more reasonable to ask him to pay for things like his mobile phone. At 16 I dint expect my son to contribute to the bills - ha has an apprenticeship and part time job but they are both minimum wage. Out if that I expect him to pay for haircuts/petrol (scooter)/going out. If he can save something great.
It’s a parent’s responsibility to make sure their kids know how to budget before they leave home, however I don’t think having him pay board is a valuable life lesson - he can surely understand the concept! But putting any extra aside for future purchases and expenses as you have already asked him to do is good. He will be paying rent soon enough and could save towards that now too.
Out of interest what apprenticeship is he able to do at 16 that pays so well?

I agree it’s mean so I’m not going to ask for anything bless him we are just so SO proud of him.

It’s an apprenticeship in industry, a global firm.

It’s over £1k a month!!

They are big on investing in their staff, training well, looking after them and fair conditions.. can’t believe his luck.

At 16, he is earning the same as me his grown arse professionally qualified mother per month!!!