Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Who Should Pay For Phone Chargers?

122 replies

RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 22:57

DD16 got a new phone a couple of months ago. An Iphone 16. At the moment she pays just £5 a month towards it (with the clear understanding that this will increase when she gets a job). DH & I pay £40 between us. DD gets £25 a week pocket money which she is always complaining isn’t enough. She’s now asking us to shell out £15 for a magnetic ( I think) charger to use in the car on a 4 to 5 hour journey & refusing to buy it herself. She uses Spotify constantly & claims that it drains the battery, so our suggestion of charging her battery fully before we travel might not be enough. DD has mental health issues & her music is a form of therapy. She’s trying to guilt trip us by saying if her phone dies when she’s out & about then she’ll blame us. There’s a festival coming up where we will need to be able to track/contact DD. Tickets already paid for. How would you handle this situation? This sort of thing comes up a lot, with DD believing she shouldn’t have to pay for stuff.

OP posts:
Original poster
RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 23:42

I need to do another thread about who pays for what I think.

OP posts:
ClassicalQueen · 20/04/2025 23:43

My car has a multitude of USB ports both in the front and back, as do most modern cars. She can bring her phone charger and plug it into that for the car journey and use the existing power bank for the festival. She doesn’t need a new charger and if she wants one, she can pay for it herself. Nip the selfish, spoilt attitude in the bud before it gets worse. £25 a week is already generous.

ElfDragon · 20/04/2025 23:44

That is (to me) a large amount of pocket money. I wouldn’t be buying extra chargers if my dd had that kind of pocket money! I buy basic wires/plugs for the house. They are replaced regularly, and all dc are welcome to use any they find. Dd2 has an extra laptop charger (so she has one in her school bag, and one plugged in at home), and I bought that. She has bought her own power packs, portable chargers etc as and when she wants them (and on a LOT less than £25/week).

As previous posters have said, a multi usb port sounds as though it would be handy anyway, but your suggestion of charging her phone before this car journey is not an unreasonable one, and given her attitude, is certainly what I would be sticking to for now.

LunaTheCat · 20/04/2025 23:46

jeepers … she has an I phone 16.
It sounds as though she needs to learn the value of things… yes, I would make her pay for her charger.

Flipslop · 20/04/2025 23:46

RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 23:30

I think the main issue is that DD is constantly asking us to pay for stuff, despite getting her very generous pocket money. And as a pp pointed out, it’s an expensive phone so perhaps she should be buying her own additional charger.

In which case maybe pick your battles and not this one? But the multi port charger do you have it for general use in the car and then work out a plan for kindly helping her budget in future and boundaries around what she feels entitled to.

BashfulClam · 20/04/2025 23:47

WestrayWife · 20/04/2025 23:11

My iPhone 16 battery lasts nearly 2 days!!
Surely it’ll be fine for a 4-5 hr car journey?
For the festival she’d be better with a power bank - I’d say that’s an essential household item anyway, so I wouldn’t mind paying for one for her. We often get power cuts etc and they are worth their weight in gold then. When she returns from the festival anyone can use it though.

Do you have a magic phone. I use music etc and charge it twice every day!

DoYouReally · 20/04/2025 23:54

"When your dad and I set the amount of pocket money, we did so allowing for purchases like this. If the arrangement isn't working for you, we can reduce the pocket money? Think about it for two days and let us know what you think".

Atop being told what to do by a teenager.
Play her at her own game.

MumChp · 20/04/2025 23:55

RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 23:39

I guess we could refuse to take them to the festival if DD hasn’t got a charger that will let her phone last for about 10 hours.

If the festival is important enough for DD she will buy what she needs to go. Or use a power bank.
But it's much nicer if you pay.

Original poster
RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 23:57

It certainly hasn’t helped that DD was dating an extremely spoilt girl until fairly recently & although DD recognises that the girl was very indulged, some of the entitled attitude has definitely rubbed off on her. The girl would be bought brand new clothes, shoes etc for every concert/festival, taken regularly to Urban Outfitters & basically given large amounts of money casually.

OP posts:
Thunderpants88 · 21/04/2025 00:00

“They”?

not plural. Did you mean to say “she”?

MumChp · 21/04/2025 00:02

RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 23:57

It certainly hasn’t helped that DD was dating an extremely spoilt girl until fairly recently & although DD recognises that the girl was very indulged, some of the entitled attitude has definitely rubbed off on her. The girl would be bought brand new clothes, shoes etc for every concert/festival, taken regularly to Urban Outfitters & basically given large amounts of money casually.

She has an expensive Iphone. She has £100 pocket money a month. Step up and say no.

StJulian2023 · 21/04/2025 00:12

Why do you give her so much pocket money? Is she expected to get clothes out of it or anything else considered essential? As you say, might be best to reduce this

Ponderingwindow · 21/04/2025 00:24

In our house we consider phone chargers, battery packs, cables, etc as basic supplies. We have a drawer with a supply of pretty much anything anyone could need. People grab what they need and put it back if they are done with it. If a particular item is popular, people let me know and I make sure to stock more.

mumda · 21/04/2025 00:25

RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 23:30

I think the main issue is that DD is constantly asking us to pay for stuff, despite getting her very generous pocket money. And as a pp pointed out, it’s an expensive phone so perhaps she should be buying her own additional charger.

Start saying and meaning no.

You have about three months to teach her the value of money.

SE13Mummy · 21/04/2025 00:27

I would give her the option of her using her pocket money to buy her own, fancy, charger or having her phone plugged into the car and using Waze on that for the journey. That way, Spotify can be used at the same time without draining the battery so it'll be fully charged for her to go and do her thing.

VFM57 · 21/04/2025 00:34

I do struggle to understand why so many young people say they have mental health problems. What are they exactly are they diagnosed or do they say they have mental illness.

As someone who has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and bi polar.

Am I wrong

If your daughter is diagnosed my apologies xx

Original poster
RabbitsRock · 21/04/2025 07:54

DD has also said that a multi split chargers won’t fit but surely an I Phone 16 would be compatible?

OP posts:
HairyGarden · 21/04/2025 07:59

She sounds really spoilt. I would say no now, and start saying no to an awful lot more.

SwanOfThoseThings · 21/04/2025 08:01

She uses Spotify constantly & claims that it drains the battery

Buy her a Walkman and some rechargeable batteries 😆

EffortlesslyDecluttering · 21/04/2025 08:06

Iphone 16s use usbc chargers instead of the apple lightning ones, so if the rest of you have older phones she might not have many charging options. We have a split cable which has lightning, micro-usb and usbc to overcome this.

Is she streaming spotify, that will drain the battery out and about, better to download on wifi at home first.

HugelyExpensiveCrystalDuck · 21/04/2025 08:07

Part of getting pocket money and learning about money is paying for things that you wished you didn’t have to pay for. She’s got money , not all of it can be spent on stuff she wants. Sometimes you have to pay for things you need.

WeekendFreedom · 21/04/2025 08:12

RabbitsRock · 20/04/2025 23:19

comedycentral she is looking for a job but unfortunately the mental health problems tend to get in the way (although we still don’t know for sure how genuine DD is & how much she is playing the mental health card). Sorry if that sounds harsh but a lot of the time, barely anything she says is true 😢 She’s restricting herself with what she applys for.

What mental health problems does she have?

Viviennemary · 21/04/2025 08:13

It depends on how much money you have as a family. If money isn't tight then I wouldn't argue over £5 and just pay it. But if her general attitude is one of entitlement and always demanding more then it's different.

coolcahuna · 21/04/2025 08:22

I think you're being more than generous ! I give my 18 year old £50 a month and his dad does the same. So similar amount but he pays for fuel out of that. He did ask me for a charger recently for his cat, £4 on amazon, no probs at all. Doesn't ask for anything else.

Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky · 21/04/2025 08:22

My dd asked for one of those magnetic ones. I resided mainly because the cheaper ones are no brand ones on Amazon. The one I recognized the name of was about £35.

but more importantly the 5-10000 mAh ones won’t go that far for an iPhone 16 I don’t think, one charge for the lower end. More practical to get a power bank and lead.

Swipe left for the next trending thread