Who Should Pay For Phone Chargers?

[RabbitsRock]

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.

Everyone's covered the charging stuff (we have usb ports in the car now, but previously used one of the cigarette lighter ones, and we have multiple power banks of various sizes, as a family of gadget-hounds)

If she's burning through her battery listening to music, I presume she's streaming it all the time? That's the most power-hungry way to do it - if she downloads a load of music and listens to it straight off the phone then her battery will last longer (ditto videos)

Can't you plan your journey in advance, write it down or god forbid use a map, people managed before sat nav, you can also charge up your own phone before you leave and use that.

Or, the teenager getting £100 a month could spend a small proportion of it on the fancy charger she wants rather than everyone else bending over backwards to accommodate.

It's not the 1970s why shouldnt parents be allowed to use a sat nav so that a spoilt child can plug a phone in? That's going to make the problem worse.

I can't give an answer to the original question as I can't imagine being in the situation where my child would have an experience phone and a large amount of pocket money

By the same token the child could manage without a phone like millions of us did when growing up. Why should the parents pander to the child?

True but someone has to give way, neither are essential, a phone will last more than 5 hours, maybe Spotify is better, maybe they share the usb port.

How about getting her to do 3-4 hours of specific chores, which will help you. Then give her the money for the charger, once the chores are complete.

I don't agree, the daughter has the means to buy the expensive charger, no giving way is required. The ease of the driver to find the way to unknown destination trumps the whim of the daughter who has other options and without being too harsh sounds like she needs a wake up call about the real world

If she wants something on top of pocket money, make her earn it. Give a list of tasks - but specify that the need doing PROPERLY. So washing, drying, folding, putting away (the full process) a load of laundry. Cooking a light meal for the family (a basic one, jacket spuds with cheese and beans level). 3 task = a phone charger.

And if it's too much work for her, she has the option to just buy it herself.

She does sound lazy and entitled to me.

My 16 year old gets £85 a month and we pay for phone (not an expensive iphone).
We provide plenty of charging wires, and there are enough splitters or ports in our cars for everyone to plug their devices in. If they wanted a different charging option to what we have available I would expect them to pay out of their pocket money.
I think in your situation I would be providing an option for them to charge in the car, if they want something extra on top of that then they need to pay.

I would buy that for my daughter. £25 a month (which is the same as I give mine) is really not very much.

I’m confused as to what type of charger she wants

do you mean a magnetic (MagSafe) powerbank?

a mangetic charger (MagSafe) still needs to be plugged into the car to charge no different I any other charger?

no one need a magnetic charger but I can understand the need for a recharge on a long journey.

and £140 pocket money per month is insane!! So yes she need to buy whatever she wants with this.

just say no! She is manipulating you y saying it’s something parents should buy.

It's a week, not a montn

Who is paying for the festival???

A WEEK. £100+ a month.

Darkclothes both tickets are early Birthday/Christmas presents for DD as she keeps pointing out when I try to tell her how much DH & I are already spending!

For next Christmas?

B1indEye this Christmas. DD’s birthday is in December.

DO NOT TAKE an expensive phone to a festival - it will get lost / stolen / broken

Fatgirlswims it’s £100 a month or sometimes £125

I’d buy it and say if she loses it she has to buy another. The fact she pays £5 towards her phone when she doesn’t work is surprising.

Don’t be so ridiculous

How can your daughter run up a phone bill like that each month?

Thanks everyone 😊

16, with an £100 a month allowance?! I knew people at 16 who were expected to give keep from PT jobs. No wonder she doesn’t bother getting a job. She’s spoilt. Food, Bills, Phone, yes, parents. Everything else should come from her very generous spending money