Pocket money for 14 year-old boy. Are we mean?

[Libra]

DS1 is 14 and has just started S3 here, which I think would be fourth year in England.

At present he gets ten pounds a week pocket money, out of which he is expected to pay for his lunch at school (usually around one pound a day for a sandwich) and then to use the other five pounds for minor living expenses.

We buy all his clothes.

The problem has arisen because he claims all his friends get more pocket money than this. There have also been problems over the summer relating to the clothes he would like bought versus the clothes I am prepared to buy.

He also has a bank savings account into which he puts money he receives for birthdays. He is very averse to using such money to purchase CDs, clothes, etc or to go to the cinema with mates (these are usual expenses). He expects to be able to meet these expenses out of the pocket money (hence it is not enough) and hoards the birthday money.

He did extra chores around the house and garden over the summer for extra money, but we will not allow him to get a job yet because we think he is too young and his schoolwork will suffer. The usual job in our village is washing dishes at the local hotel for quite poor wages, which some of his mates do.

So - are we mean? How much do you give your 14 year old and what is he expected to fund out of this?

Many thanks for any replies!!

isn't the thread about whether or not Libra's ds gets enough pocket money?

i think yes.

it seems to be how he chooses to spend it, rather than whether or not he has enough.

MrsD has spoken

You sound happy with your arrangement Libra - end of discussion.

Why the night before? No one in the house makes them the night before.

It's not convenience. It's a need to be doing the same as his mates. I have acknowledged this to be a lost battle, that's why he has school lunches. But I obviously need to give him a bit more money to cover them.

Really, the discussion was never about forcing him to make sandwiches.

sorry MrsD

Thanks all.

Getting riled now.

Will calm down and go into a nice exam board instead.

Libra I don't think you need to discover his reasons - it's his decision and unless he's spending his daily lunch quid on crack there doesn't appear to be much to worry about.

Facts are: he has the choice between spending £1 on his lunch or making a sandwich at home. That's a choice many of us make, no matter how ancient I am old we are. Ahem.

so we all agree

libra should force him to buy crack snadwiches and then clean the bathroom.
He then gets £5 for collecting Custys dog shit
Sorted
( and we didn't go off topic at all)

Brilliant pagwatch

Only you've missed out Gordon Ramsay and his fish complex, and also MarsLady's ds who will be doing catering for the entire thread, with a choice of roast dinners or something Jamaican.

Hurrah!

i fancy something jamaican

Me too.
I've been watching the Olympics.

I too fancy many things Jamaican And any of the other Caribbean islands

i will pay anyone's ds £1 a day to come and cook my Gordon Ramsey style dinners

and if their skills extend to the clearing up of catshit too am willing to raise it £150

i mean £1.50

damn you olympics getting me all excited

Almost sent DS1 round then MrsD

The only catshit I deal with is my own.

will raise him £5 if he brings lemon drizzle cake Marsy!

gosh i was thinking about getting my just turned 6 year old to start helping to do his packed lunch from sept!!

i must be very unloving!

My ds is 14 and gets 30 a month into his account plus 10 on his phone and I buy all clothes and school lunches.He used to take sandwiches then stopped which is a pita as its another tenner a week.I have told him if he goes back to packed lunch his allowance will go up to 40 from september and typical teenager blinded by the money has agreed!Ten pounds a week to include school lunch is not enough imho