Pocket money or children?

[Sol]

What's your opinion about giving young children, 5 years old pocket money, e.g. ?2 a week, so he learns to save for something bigger or spend on what he wants, are they too young for that? Since my son was asking on every outing for every single thing he saw in a shop, I decided to give him ?2 a week, and if he spends it all, I tell him he can't buy anything else until the next week, or tell him that he can save some and spend the rest or save it all.

[mima08]

Hiya,

my lo is still too small (18month) but i strongly believe in giving pocket money. No idea what the appropriate rate is, but I have a few friends who have given pocket money from 4yrs on and the children use it for all the little extras they want. Seems to be working very well.

[ryedalema]

We give both of ours pocket money (they are 2.5 and 5) and it works fabulously.

The little one doesn't understand too much and we just give her a couple of coins, but it's based on how good she's been during the week - if she's tidied up, gotten herself dressed etc

The older one gets a max of ?2 again based on behaviour during the week - getting dressed without moaning, eating vegetables (without moaning), tidying up and being kind to her sister.

We have a little ceremony every Saturday morning where we 'discuss' what they've done that's good and bad and talk about how they could have done the bad stuff differently.

Have to say, rightly or wrongly, it completely stops the 'gimme's'. Whenever oldest one asks for something we can refer to the pocket money, and she's racked up quite a lot of savings now as she doesn't buy the little stuff but saves for bigger items. She's saving up for a pair of Lelli Kelly's right now and is nearly there.

I think she's learned the value of money (and of being good) from this - she knows how much things cost and that once you spend money, it's not there any more and you have to start saving again. Also that if you want something badly enough you have to save up for it. When she does ask for something new we discuss that she can have that, or the Lelli Kelly's, and we sometimes take photos of the new thing as the next thing to save for.

Next week we'll buy said LK's and make a big fuss!!

My dad (bless him) went bankrupt in the early 90's causing havoc with our family structure. We splashed the cash before then and I didn't learn the value of money until our home was taken away. I really hope that learning the value of money early with our little ones literally pays dividends.

Little one (2.5) also has a massive stash of coins as she copies her sister :)

[Mrs TP]

We give our school age children 25p per week per year of their life so for e.g. 8yrs x 25p = ?2 per week. This means it goes up 25p per week on their b'days and they seem happy with that.

I have come across two schools of thought; one that you should give each child the same amount as they generally buying similar stuff and it all costs the same and secondly giving more to the oldest as we do - I just like the built in incremental system this has.

Their Nan also gives them ?1 per week so same each.

As they getting older they definitely getting better at saving for decent things rather than instant tat and also realise they can't have everything.

We were still buying comics and sweets on top of that money but now have they have a comic each on a subscription as a b'day present from a relative. When they were younger it was the comics that were taking all the money so we had a rethink of how things should work and arrived at the current system.

[Pugwash]

I know Iam old but ?2 pw for a 5 year old seems over the top - I like the 25p pw per year of their age.

When our 2 were teenagers we gave them a monthly allowance if I remember the eldest got ?10 per month (it was in the 80s) we paid for all essential items for school and some clothing, anything else she paid for. I suppose the main difference now is that teenagers cannot get Saturday jobs any more ( mine did Slatters BAkery,Littlewoods and

holiday and afterschool playschemes) to gain extra money. My 13 year old grandaughter washed down all the woodwork in my hall way for ?10 and did a very good job.

[sunbob]

Why can't teenagers get Saturday jobs anymore?