Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

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

Pocket money for 13 year olds (year 8)

102 replies

posey · 06/10/2009 14:19

Just wondering how much is the going rate, what they have to do with it, (eg phone top ups, clothes,etc) and do they have to earn it.
Thanks

OP posts:
malovitt · 07/10/2009 09:45

My 13yr old gets £50 per month.

I buy all his clothes and footwear, his money is for snacks, drinks, cinema, cds and xbox games.

I pay it into his bank account and he usually saves most of it.
As it's his money, he seems to think long and hard before any purchase, which is good.

PixiNanny · 07/10/2009 09:59

I think it's something to d with the legalities of children working. I used to work in a newsagents that belonged to a family friend and from what I remember, he's always refused to take on under 14's as it was too complicated. I think under 14's can do the once a week type rounds, but not every morning ones. Me and my litle sister shared a once a week round when we were about 13/14ish but it was in my name and I was 14 (I think...)

cory · 07/10/2009 12:32

Dd won't be able to have a weekend job because of chronic health problem; she struggles with her school attendance as it is. For the same reason I can't make pocket money dependent on chores: would be very unfair when she has a flare-up, and might result in comptetitive disability between her and her brother if I tried to work out a way of compensating. Will just grab whoever looks reasonably fit when I want something done.

nappyaddict · 07/10/2009 12:39

Oh yes I also had £15 top up a month so £55 a month really. No one else seems to give their child this much. I always seemed to get less than my friends aswell when I was at school.

mondaymonday · 07/10/2009 12:41

cat64 - agree it's a good thing to learn about budgetting, but on the other end of the scale, we all know people who grow up to be right old meanies too. I think there's a balance to be reached

Surfermum · 07/10/2009 12:43

I'm always saying to dsd that she doesn't know how lucky she is having so much money each month. Even £80 doesn't seem to be enough for her, and then I'm left feeling like the wicked stepmother if I say no to her requests for more money for something, or for more phone credit.

This thread has reassured me that I'm not being unreasonable.

mollyroger · 07/10/2009 12:50

my ds is 12 at xmas. We had an agreement (which i have had to renege on due to poverty ) that for secondary school he would get £5 a week to cover phone card, all 'fashion' clothes, and whatever.
We pay £10 for school bus fares and school snacks, and school stuff and 'basic' knicks, socks, coat shoes.

mumblechum · 07/10/2009 16:08

£70 a month, v. minimal chores. He gets through that quite easily, cinema & popcorn £10, going for a burger or pizza with a drink the best part of another £10. Doesn't pay for any fares, taxis, clothes or anything. Am thinking he's maybe getting a bit too much, certainly isn't interested in getting a Saturday job

He's yr 10.

NancyBotwin · 07/10/2009 16:43

Luckily dd doesn't go to the cinema or meals with friends that often - maybe at the end of term they'll do something after school, the odd time during school holidays. I'm sure it will change as she gets older though!

nappyaddict · 07/10/2009 17:03

mumblechum I wouldn't give him less but I would tell him fares have to come out of it unless they are for getting to and from school things. Ditto for clothes that he doesn't need. Does he pay for phone top up out of it?

ScaryFucker · 07/10/2009 17:29

mumble, I do think that is too much, especially if he doesn't help around the house

what are you teaching him here ? That money grows on trees and requires no effort from him to keep it coming ?

mumblechum · 07/10/2009 17:39

SF, you're probably right. He has a v. expensive hobby too (rowing).

Thing is his friends are all from seriously loaded families and if anything he gets q. a lot less than most .

They all go shopping at Holister, Jack Wills etc most weekends. Luckily ds not partic. int4rested in clothes so doesn't cost much that way. I think I will give him a few more chores. He does bring the coal & logs in daily without being reminded but that's it.

ScaryFucker · 07/10/2009 17:59

tis up to you mumble, of course you give what you can afford

but I really think it gives the wrong message that teens do not contribute to the household, tbh, whether money changes hands or not

janeite · 07/10/2009 18:48

My girls have always helped out and always been expected to, long before we started giving allowances. I totally agree that children should contribute to the household because they are part of it, not because they are paid for it.

Re: part time jobs: tbh even if they could work, I don't want them to: they work extremely hard at school and dd1 especially gets a lot of homework which she spends a great deal of time and effort on (3 hours on Art last night for example). I can afford at this time to give them an allowance so would rather carry on doing this until their GCSEs at least are completed.

optimisticmumma · 07/10/2009 19:46

DS1 17 - £50 a month . Plays rugby Sat and Sun is in 6th form and really has no time for job. HOWEVER he did earn around £300 in the summer babysitting/waitering/ decorating etc etc.
DD 14 -£20 - IMO girls spend more don't really know why. She has to budget and does so v.well. Has started little babysitting jobs.
DS2 12 (year 8)£16 a month. Doesn't spend anything as doesn't have much of a social life yet!!Funded the family takeaway last week as he had the most mopney!!!

I am pretty sure we pay the going rate round here. We give our DC money because they need some independence and need to learn to budget and I'm sorry but you cannot really budget on £1.30 a week IMO. I expect my DC to help around the house every day whether they are doing exams or not, tired or not, weekend or not just as DH and I have to. I don't pay them for any jobs but I expect them to do extra is I ask them to.

I also think it's a real pitfall when children/teens can afford to have what they want . Some of them are going to need £100K plus salaries in future to fund their acquired expensive tastes...

optimisticmumma · 07/10/2009 19:49

Excuse spelling mistakes.
Meant to add that the easiest thing to do we have found is a standing order into a cash card account then the DC have to get it out of the bank and think ahead. Also works should they ever get stuck somewhere...

inthesticks · 07/10/2009 20:34

DS is 13 and I've just increased his pm to £15 per month. It was £1.00 a week but I gave him cash for extras. He started going out a little bit independantly so his new pm has to cover cinema tickets etc.
I'm with Seeker on the jobs front though. I think that paying children to share the chores is on a par with thanking DH when he's "done the hoovering for you".
DS1 would love a job, but we don't even have a newsagent within 5 miles so no paper rounds here.
DS2 has a nice line in cat feeding when the neighbours are away though.

janeite · 07/10/2009 21:07

OM - no, I totally agree with you re: helping in the house - H/W or not, exams or not - I was talking about working outside the home.

Please can you tell me more about the cashcard thing as we just give the dds cash at the mo.

optimisticmumma · 07/10/2009 21:23

Janeite - their accounts are with Halifax. Can't remember the name of the account (Save 4 it or something??). It can be opened from 11 and has a debit card with it. Minimal interest obviously... I do think that it is a good idea that DC learn about pin numbers/looking after cards/checking balances from a young age so it becomes the norm. I make sure they file statements and read them too!
I diito your working outside the home stance.However I challenged my DS to work to fund his party summer after GCSEs including going to a festival etc and he really impressed me with wanting to do it and actually seeking out work. It's amazing how many people will pay a teenager to paint a utility room!!! He isn't working now as he's doing 5 ASs and only has 5 free periods in two weeks so really no time. Not like our day eh?

janeite · 07/10/2009 21:25

Thanks ever so....sounds good.

cat64 · 07/10/2009 22:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

optimisticmumma · 08/10/2009 08:58

Fair enough cat64

I do get your point - we all have to do what is reasonable within our budget. I do also think it depends where you live and what opportunities there are for the DC to spend money. Also, as you say it depends on the individual child's attitude to spending...
Don't get me wrong - I am totally against DC getting massive amounts of money but, for me, it's always about finding a balance.

I also would never buy anything consumable at a cinema but if the DC want to use their money to do so that's up to them. After a couple of times they soon understood the joys of LIDL.

What I can't stand is grasping, greedy children who have no idea what things cost etc etc because their parents pay for everything ie they don't get pocket money but get anything they ask for iyswim!! To understand the value of money DC have to have some to make decisions about it but it can come with birthdays/Christmas etc etc

seeker · 08/10/2009 11:26

"can't kids get part-time jobs at 13? I only ask because we've told DD (nearly 12) that when she reaches 13, the pocket money stops because she'll be old enough to start earning some money for herself."

I can understand this if money is really really tight - but if it isn't, this strikes me as being a bit sad. Apart from anything else, how on earth would she fit in a job around homework and hobbies and things? There wouldn't be any family time left at all.

My dd earns a little money by helping out at the stables sometimes, but I consider that an "extra" - I wouldn't dock her pocket money!

cat64 · 08/10/2009 13:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

optimisticmumma · 08/10/2009 13:39

I totally agree, Seeker. [SMILE]

Swipe left for the next trending thread