Reasonable allowance for 16 Yr old?

[ItWillBeDone]

I introduced an allowance for my 16 Yr old. Thought it was very reasonable at £30 per week, to include them buying their own clothes and any entertainment. I also pay for mobile phone, gym, xbox and spotify membership, and toiletries. I'm told it's completely unreasonable and nowhere near enough.

Apparently friends get all clothes bought for them and a decent allowance, though I'm not being told how much they get.

Huge reluctance to get a job too. Apparently most kids don't have to these days and it's not worth working for less than minimum wage (as in less than min wage for an 18 Yr old).

What do you think?

My 16 yr old son and all his friends have a part time job. He has a regular 5 hour shift once a week that pays him £55 plus occasional bank shifts (lifeguard) which he fits around Alevels. We only give him £5 a week pocket money (plus his bus fare, phone contract, music lessons, clothes) which is on the low side but encourages him to work, not sponge. He saves half towards travelling next summer and spends the rest.

Your 16 year old is taking the piss IMO

At 16 mine are getting a quarter of that and have jobs.

It isn't easy finding a job at 16/17 in my experience.

I give £175 a month to a 17 year old who has a one shift a week job and earns £80 a shift. Probably does 3 out of every 4 weekends.

I buy all clothes, essentially this is school uniform/shoes and everything else incl. work clothes (usually take them shopping every three months). I also pay for everything else, phone, Apple Music, music lessons, toiletries, hair cuts etc..

I did think that I would cut the amount I pay once they had managed to get a job, but it took a year to find one. Doing A levels well, as well as youth orchestra and a full day at the weekend is a lot, so I have just left it as it was.

I have a 17 yr old who runs an online store which gets him about £200-500 a week, and his grandparents give him £15 a week. He doesn't buy much clothing but does go out with friends about around once a month.

I pay for phone (with Spotify included as part of the plan) and toiletries but gym and xbox would most likely fall on him. Right now he pays monthly subscriptions like website fees and domains for his shop, a streaming service no ones ever heard of, and care for his pets etc by himself. I don't buy clothes for him anymore and haven't for years. Too much money for me!

£30 sounds like a very good amount to give your 16 yr old. I understand jobs for people his age are poor paying, but there's not really much he can do about that and beggars cant be choosers!

Mine are 17 & almost 15 and both have jobs to fund going out plus any clothes they want on top of basics. Petrol for older one too

Both earn £8 hour

We pay for phones (£8 month sim only at the moment) food at home and for college/school, toiletries and general clothes

They don't ask for much extra really

What does your dc have to pay for out of that £30 week?

I mean is it all their clothes, shoes, coats etc or do you cover basics?

I am not in the UK, so the amount we give would not be relevant. I have a 15 year old.
We pay for the phone, Spotify, all school necessities, basic clothes (underwear, two pairs of pants, some shirts, a seasonally appropriate jacket), necessary shoes. Any equipment she needs for her sport, as well as club fees. For everything over and above that, she pays.

She also has a separate pot of money for either school lunches, if she wants them, or a supermarket where she can buy sandwiches and salads.
We still give her a weekly allowance, have not switched to monthly.
She will soon start babysitting but it will be an occasional thing (for orientation, about 4 hours babysitting would get her as much money as her weekly allowance).

What everyone else gives their child is irrelevant. What’s important here is what you’ve decided to give. Your DS doesn’t get a say in it! If he’s not happy with the amount, tough!

My 16 yo has a job. Agree, its not easy to find one at that age, and it took them 4 months, but there are jobs out there. Yes the pay is shit but we all have to start somewhere and its not forever. I pay for phone, travel to college, some clothes and basic toiletries. They can also earn extra money by doing stuff around the house.

My 15 year old gets £50 a month from us and £70 a month from grandparents. We pay his phone and buy basic but decent clothing and he buys anything else himself eg if he wants designer clothing, aftershave etc. We run our own business so if he wants a top up income he comes to work with us and earns some money.

The reluctance to get a job would irritate me if she thinks you should just hand her more money because she doesn’t fancy working - who does. I think expecting her to buy all her clothes from that allowance is probably not realistic but it should be enough to save for things she really wants and some going out money. If she wants more then she needs to earn it. If there really are no jobs then if you can afford it maybe you can pay her for some extra jobs around the house (but not for the stuff she should be doing already as part of a family). My DD got $100 a month at that age (around $50) although that was pretty much going out money as we paid for all clothes and essentials as well as her phone, she then got a waitressing job to pay for the make up etc. she wanted.

My 16 year old has a part time job paying £9 and hour. So they are out there for more than minimum wage.
He also gets £10 a month pocket money, and £20 a month put in his savings, as that's all I could afford. I do buy all clothes, toiletries, spotify, phone contract etc.

My daughter at just turned 16 earns £11.51ph in her first job. They don't all pay badly. Obviously depends where you live but from what we saw when applying the supermarkets all pay fairly well and don't differentiate based on age. She is contracted to 8 hours a week - any more than that and I think she would struggle with balancing a levels.

My 17 year old only gets £30 a month! And works during evenings and holidays (earning between £6.50 and £10 an hour). I still buy nearly everything for her except overpriced 'merch' clothing she pays for herself.

Lowly paid jobs are par for the course and give you something to put on your cv as well. My 13 year old earns £25 a week doing a paper round.

My 16 year old get £30 a month from us.

we pay for their bus pass and phone and obviously toiletries (we don’t have things like Spotify so no need to pay for that)

@unusualbusiness im really impressed your teen has an online business, its earnings are amazing too! 🙌🏻

my teen is desperately applying for jobs and going to interviews between college classes but so far not getting anything, they do have a paper round that pays very little but it’s starting a good work ethic.

OP if your teen thinks it’s not worth getting a job because of the pay, you need to nip that in the bud now…it’s only going to lead to a lazy adult. Of course teens are paid less…they have no work experience.

I have 16 yo twins (in upper 6). They get £50 a month, I pay gym, phone, Spotify, clothes, toiletries, travel etc on top.

Both have Pt jobs earning £100-£200 a month too.

They spend their money on football /cinema / gig tickets, eating out McDonald's nando etc.

What do they need more for?

I think your teen is ungrateful and is lucky to be getting anything. Are they aware how the other half (probably actually more than half) live?

My 15 year old , nearly 16 gets £20 a week. He gets extra if he is going the cinema etc and we pay for his clothes/ mobile phone and everything else. I don’t want him to get a job right now as I want him to focus on his GCSEs and use his weekends for free time.

We have the same approach as Spacecowboys. My 15yo doesn't really buy much so doesn't seem to need much money, we also go away a lot and have commitments at the weekend so a job wouldn't fit in at the moment. She did work over the summer though.
I would say about half of the friends have a job, they want latest clothes and other stuff so their job pays for that. The other friends have hobbies that take a lot of their free time

I didn't of mine either of mine a penny after they were 14, they had to work. They get some clothes etc for bday/xmas. They are both brilliant with money :)

Mine both had jobs at this age waitressing in a local gastro pub. I topped them up with £15 a week and mobile phone paid for. They bought almost everything else bar the odd treat that I'd buy them if we were out etc

Thanks all. They are expected to buy clothes out of that. Had based the numbers on estimates of what unbranded clothes would cost. Figured they could get a job to pay for branded things. Maybe it is a bit on the low side?

Wish my DC had an entrepreneurial side. I know we need to get the work ethic installed. It's been an uphill battle since homework began.

My 17 and 15 year old get 9.50 a week 17 yo has a little job. 15 yo will get one once 16.

Job-wise, I would suggest babysitting, refereeing (the FA runs a scheme for 14+ and the pay is decent, not sure about other sports) or lifeguarding may suit a 16 year old?

£30 a week isn't going to buy his clothes.

I gave mine £20 a week, going back a few years, but I still bought their clothes. £20 got them a bus to the city, lunch at McDonald's/Nando's/Chinese buffet and a few quid left for a bottle of juice and bar of chocolate a day or 2. No way would it have stretched any further.

I even gave them more if they were going swimming because the £20 didn't actually cover it if you included lunch and bus fare