Pocket money for a 9yr old

Pep

How much monthly is it good to give our 9yr old? :? :?:

joe2008

Pep wrote:

How much monthly is it good to give our 9yr old? :? :?:

We give our girls who are 9 and 12 the same as we got as kids - zero

drlodge

If it helps, my kids are 17 and 13 and I give them £18 and £13 respectively. Its been that amount for a year or two, they also get pocket money from their mum.

For a 9 year old, about a tenner? It also depends on your approach to money. Some parents will give them nothing for free, they have to earn pocket money by doing jobs. Other parents will give them anything they want for free including £1000 iPhones.

shortfall

Pep wrote:

How much monthly is it good to give our 9yr old? :? :?:

No idea on amounts these days but my parents expected me to do various chores in return for pocket money and I expected the same from my own kids. Helps to develop a work ethic and stops them becoming grown ups who expect sometning for nothing.

Pep

joe2008 wrote:

Pep wrote:

How much monthly is it good to give our 9yr old? :? :?:

We give our girls who are 9 and 12 the same as we got as kids - zero

Fair enough.
Sure you still buy them stuff, ... do you? Maybe you are buying them things that you could otherwise expect they buy, from "their" money. This would force them to face choices about what they want more and what less. Facing choices, of some difficulty, is a way to learn.
Don't you think you are missing out on opportunities to make them learning?

herb71

I am with Joe. Never gave my pair any pocket money, and they still seemed to have more cash than me from other relatives. I also made sure there was the possibility for them to earn some money doing odd jobs around house and garden.

slowbike

Mines 3 ....

He gets 2 pound coins as and when we get them (and remember to give them to him).

Interested to see how others approach this - I'm erring towards the side of earning their keep - especially as they get older.

I'm assuming the amounts mentioned are weekly

Pep

Shortfall wrote:

Pep wrote:

How much monthly is it good to give our 9yr old? :? :?:

No idea on amounts these days but my parents expected me to do various chores in return for pocket money and I expected the same from my own kids. Helps to develop a work ethic and stops them becoming grown ups who expect sometning for nothing.

Fair point.
My opinion, and if course I can be wrong, is that a child should to chores because it's a good thing to do,
period, not because of financial return.
On top of linking chores to money or not, I prefer to "encourage" my child to do chores, I don't want it to make it a must.

joe2008

Pep wrote:

joe2008 wrote:

Pep wrote:

How much monthly is it good to give our 9yr old? :? :?:

We give our girls who are 9 and 12 the same as we got as kids - zero

Fair enough.
Sure you still buy them stuff, ... do you? Maybe you are buying them things that you could otherwise expect they buy, from "their" money. This would force them to face choices about what they want more and what less. Facing choices, of some difficulty, is a way to learn.
Don't you think you are missing out on opportunities to make them learning?

Sure they get birthday and Christmas presents.

They still face choices and, hopefully, they learn from those, however, I think they have plenty of time as adults to worry about money.

crispybug2

With my little lady (10 years old) she gets most of her pocket money from her grandparents, we give money every now and then plus if we decide to give her some for work performed. With the money we give her it all goes onto a GoHenry card, this allows her to pay for things contactlessly, so feels a bit more grown up (as all ten year olds like to do!) and we get text messages telling where she spent money and how much

You find one of these cards useful, we certainly do.

dannbodge

When I was younger (so 19 years ago) I got 90p a week at 9 years old.
Then £1 at 10, £1.10 a week at 11 etc. That all stopped at 16 too.

Matthewfalle

£5 a week for 9 year old bambino

sniper68

My son is 11 and gets £5 per week but he only gets it if his room is kept tidy.He helps with chores and walks the Dog but this is not tied to his pocket money.One of his mates at school get £20 a week!!!??????
We also put £10pm credit on his phone(one of his mums old contract Samsungs)and he's had Three bikes this year and we run him all over the place to Race so I don't think he's badly done by :roll:

slowbike

joe2008 wrote:

They still face choices and, hopefully, they learn from those, however, I think they have plenty of time as adults to worry about money.

Worry or learn the value of?

Depends if pocket money is considered as required for necessities - or just frivolous spending. I know some children (as they got older) were given an allowance and were expected to fund everything they wanted from it (beyond the basic living in the house expenses - ie food!) - so they'd use their allowance to buy (non-school) clothing, shoes, out of school sports activities, stationery, holidays (non-family ones).
Others (including myself) were given (usually adhoc) pocket money that we could use for anything we wanted - but parents would still provide clothing, sports & holiday funds on top.

I still quite like the thought of providing an allowance (probably gradually) so they can make their own choices - and learn that there isn't an endless pot of money to be spent.

slowbike

Sniper68 wrote:

and he's had Three bikes this year

N+1 ....

Sniper68 wrote:

and we run him all over the place to Race so I don't think he's badly done by :roll:

If he's enjoying it then great - I do know a couple of kids who seem to have lost their childhood (so far) because of what I'd consider to be pushy parents - expecting top results from races - and not doing the sport for the fun of it - perhaps they (the kids) are enjoying it and they'll end up as top achievers because of the desire to excel - but as for mine - I'll go to the ends of the earth to help him achieve, I'll encourage him to achieve, but if he just doesn't want to compete then that's fine - as long as we have fun.

bompington

Pep wrote:

My opinion, and if course I can be wrong, is that an adult should go to work because it's a good thing to do, period, not because of financial return.

FTFY

Bompetta is 8 and gets £1 a week: she is expected to do chores as requested, including some regular daily ones. She gets extra if she does a chore she has not been asked to do.

Maybe we'll put that up to £1.50 when she's 9.

sniper68

Slowbike wrote:

Sniper68 wrote:

and he's had Three bikes this year

N+1 ....

Sniper68 wrote:

and we run him all over the place to Race so I don't think he's badly done by :roll:

If he's enjoying it then great - I do know a couple of kids who seem to have lost their childhood (so far) because of what I'd consider to be pushy parents - expecting top results from races - and not doing the sport for the fun of it - perhaps they (the kids) are enjoying it and they'll end up as top achievers because of the desire to excel - but as for mine - I'll go to the ends of the earth to help him achieve, I'll encourage him to achieve, but if he just doesn't want to compete then that's fine - as long as we have fun.

His weekly training with his CC is at Elland which is a 40 mile round trip.He races if he wants to.If we get up and it's pi$$ing it down and windy he's not fussed and I'm not pushing him.This was his first year in U12 and TBH he's well off the pace.Results don't bother us he just loves it.He used to ride CX as well as closed circuit but went off CX 2 years ago.He raced in a "fun" Track/CX event on his MTB last weekend and simply couldn't keep up.He asked if he could have a CX bike for Xmas to race again...hence the three bikes :roll:
We bought him a 650c Wiggins as a stop-gap at the beginning of the season as he'd out grown his 24" Frog but was too short for a 700c.Within 2 months he'd shot up so we got him a 700c in June(he understood that it was an early Birthday present).We dropped on a 700c Dolan Multi-X last week so got that for a good price.At least both 700c bikes should be good to go for a few years as I can't see him growing more than another 5 or 6".Hopefully!
We've already got him a new X-Box for Xmas so the CX bike is just a bonus.We've put the same amount the bike cost in our daughters Uni fund so it's worked out out not so cheap

ugo.santalucia

drlodge wrote:

If it helps, my kids are 17 and 13 and I give them £18 and £13 respectively. Its been that amount for a year or two, they also get pocket money from their mum.

How about adjusting for inflation, you scrooge? :roll:

shirley_basso

ugo.santalucia wrote:

drlodge wrote:

If it helps, my kids are 17 and 13 and I give them £18 and £13 respectively. Its been that amount for a year or two, they also get pocket money from their mum.

How about adjusting for inflation, you scrooge? :roll:

What's a quid here or there between family? Bit bossy ugo, considering your lack of kids.

If that's weekly, its more than I ever got until I was about 20, and I needed a little help while studying overseas.

slowbike

Sniper68 wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

Sniper68 wrote:

and he's had Three bikes this year

N+1 ....

Sniper68 wrote:

and we run him all over the place to Race so I don't think he's badly done by :roll:

If he's enjoying it then great - I do know a couple of kids who seem to have lost their childhood (so far) because of what I'd consider to be pushy parents - expecting top results from races - and not doing the sport for the fun of it - perhaps they (the kids) are enjoying it and they'll end up as top achievers because of the desire to excel - but as for mine - I'll go to the ends of the earth to help him achieve, I'll encourage him to achieve, but if he just doesn't want to compete then that's fine - as long as we have fun.

His weekly training with his CC is at Elland which is a 40 mile round trip.He races if he wants to.If we get up and it's pi$$ing it down and windy he's not fussed and I'm not pushing him.This was his first year in U12 and TBH he's well off the pace.Results don't bother us he just loves it.He used to ride CX as well as closed circuit but went off CX 2 years ago.He raced in a "fun" Track/CX event on his MTB last weekend and simply couldn't keep up.He asked if he could have a CX bike for Xmas to race again...hence the three bikes :roll:
We bought him a 650c Wiggins as a stop-gap at the beginning of the season as he'd out grown his 24" Frog but was too short for a 700c.Within 2 months he'd shot up so we got him a 700c in June(he understood that it was an early Birthday present).We dropped on a 700c Dolan Multi-X last week so got that for a good price.At least both 700c bikes should be good to go for a few years as I can't see him growing more than another 5 or 6".Hopefully!
We've already got him a new X-Box for Xmas so the CX bike is just a bonus.We've put the same amount the bike cost in our daughters Uni fund so it's worked out out not so cheap

I suppose we should just shut up and pay if they want to get wet & muddy better than sat in front of the X-Box!
Actually - technology is one area we don't pursue with Little Slowbike - probably because we both work with computers all day so aren't interested when we get home - but then, he's got a few years yet to get used to them - and when I was his age ... erm ... home computers weren't around ... let alone smart phones and tablets! ...

pblakeney

Pep wrote:

Shortfall wrote:

Pep wrote:

How much monthly is it good to give our 9yr old? :? :?:

No idea on amounts these days but my parents expected me to do various chores in return for pocket money and I expected the same from my own kids. Helps to develop a work ethic and stops them becoming grown ups who expect sometning for nothing.

Fair point.
My opinion, and if course I can be wrong, is that a child should to chores because it's a good thing to do,
period, not because of financial return.
On top of linking chores to money or not, I prefer to "encourage" my child to do chores, I don't want it to make it a must.

That's how it worked for me too. It has the bonus of teaching you how to work out what gives the best return for effort and time. And you don't have to do anything if you are prepared to do without.

Matthewfalle

bambina (12 1/2) gets £40 a month allowance to cover her clothes & social life.

school stuff we'll pay for naturally and anything else we feel falls outside of this remit.

naturally given the cold hearted ice cold blooded bastaard i tend to feel that more falls outside of this remit than her mother does. same for boy. we just don't tell TDV.

DeVlaeminck

I'd give them say £100 a week, enough to cover food and board, maybe make them work if they want extra for toys or clothing.

morstar

Daughter got an allowance of £80 per month from about 11 out of which she paid for all her school dinners and the rest was hers. She soon learnt to take sandwiches. She is a smart cookie with money. At 9 it was about £2 per week.
Eldest ploughs through money like his mother and youngest is somewhere inbetween.

964cup

I think this is one of those length of string questions. Where do you live, what kind of life do you lead, what do his peers get and what are their lives like etc? I can tell you that our 10-year-old boy gets £5/week, but I don't know what that tells you without context. Most of it seems to go into the pockets of Stan Lee (RIP); the rest is spent on sweets - we have to frisk him whenever he walks home from school as he will have concealed contraband in every pocket and in his socks.

BelgianBeerGeek

Fucking hell kids are expensive. I don’t always have that kind of cash to spend on myself.
Just my tuppence worth. As you were.

morstar

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

******* hell kids are expensive. I don’t always have that kind of cash to spend on myself.
Just my tuppence worth. As you were.

Not wrong. In terms of allowances and school / other leisure activities (outside of family stuff) each child has approx 2x spent on them than I spend on myself.
And mine are not spoilt. They get to experience a range of activities but selectively and they don't have any expensive clobber. It must cost several grand to keep a child in designer clothing.

Matthewfalle

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

******* hell kids are expensive. I don’t always have that kind of cash to spend on myself.
Just my tuppence worth. As you were.

Agreed completely but I intend to impose massively on mine when I am old(er) so I look at it as a short term investment.

BelgianBeerGeek

morstar wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

******* hell kids are expensive. I don’t always have that kind of cash to spend on myself.
Just my tuppence worth. As you were.

Not wrong. In terms of allowances and school / other leisure activities (outside of family stuff) each child has approx 2x spent on them than I spend on myself.
And mine are not spoilt. They get to experience a range of activities but selectively and they don't have any expensive clobber. It must cost several grand to keep a child in designer clothing.

Excellent. My work world leads me to awful places including neglect (and worse) so crack on, I say. I do not have kids (through choice, I am useless enough as it is). Enjoy your time with your family. It’s all you have.

BelgianBeerGeek

Matthewfalle wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

******* hell kids are expensive. I don’t always have that kind of cash to spend on myself.
Just my tuppence worth. As you were.

Agreed completely but I intend to impose massively on mine when I am old(er) so I look at it as a short term investment.

Start racking up them bills now

robert88

Matthewfalle wrote:

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

******* hell kids are expensive. I don’t always have that kind of cash to spend on myself.
Just my tuppence worth. As you were.

Agreed completely but I intend to impose massively on mine when I am old(er) so I look at it as a short term investment.

B*gger pocket money - just paid thousands to settle someone who shall be nameless' credit card bill to keep them off the streets. It's been cut into tiny pieces and they'll never have another as I have reported them to Experian and made them sign up for hard labour in perpetuity.

So yeah, no free hand outs - make 'em work.