What age should children get pocket money?

June 18, 2018

Our twins are six year olds and earlier this year, my husband and I made the decision to give them pocket money. It’s not a fortune, at just £1 a week, but we thought it would be a good way to introduce our children to the idea of money.

While some parents will offer their children pocket money in return for chores, our girls don’t need to do chores to receive their £1 a week pocket money. However, I’m very open to the idea of allowing them to earn extra money on top of their £1 a week if they did help to do chores.

That being said, R is very good at helping with these already. She knows how to work the washing machine, and she’ll always offer to help put the bins out.

M is the same, but has a tendency to want to help do the dishes.

Now, when my husband and I first thought about giving our girls pocket money, we did so with the intention that it would help them learn some money management skills.

That if they wanted to buy something, they’d need to save for it, and when they bought things, they’d have less and again, would need to save it.

To be honest with you, although our girls look forward to ‘Pocket Money Friday’ as it’s now known, they don’t ever ask to spend their money!

Now, that’s not a problem. I mean it’s good that they want to save it, but I’ve found that my husband and I are asking our girls if they want to go to the shops to spend their money.

Of course, the answer is always yes, but should be encouraging this? Spending money for the sake of spending it?

I bet if we didn’t give them pocket money next week, they probably wouldn’t ask for it!

What do you think? How old should children be to get pocket money?

21 Comments

  • Mel

    June 18, 2018 at 8:17 am

    My boys were about the same age, and we started at £1 too. They didn’t have chores as such to earn it, but I did expect them to make their beds, tidy their toys etc. I did also give them the option to earn more by the chores. I think as we’re a family then I expect them to give me a hand from time to time hoovering, or dusting, dishwasher etc, so I paid them to help out the laundry away, as this was always something they hated doing as they needed to touch other peoples pants 😂😂.

    Spending the money, we always take some of their money when we go out and about, and then if they see something they really want then they can spend their own money. It’s great, when they are spending their own money then that awful thing sitting on the shelf, that you know they will play with for 5 minutes flat, but it is essential that they have, when it’s their money then their need is not so great, and they usually bring money back home with them 😊. Like yourselves it’s a great way to teach them money management.

  • Veronica Lee

    June 22, 2018 at 5:30 am

    I gave my boys pocket money daily when they were in Standard One (aged 7) so they could buy food at the school canteen during recess. They learned to save some of the allowance for other stuff. I think it’s a good way to teach them about money management.

    #ThatFridayLinky

  • Chloe

    June 22, 2018 at 6:48 am

    Hi, I used to look forward to my pocket money. It can be a great way to teach you to save and use for it something you would like #thatfridaylinky

  • Daddy Poppins

    June 22, 2018 at 7:21 am

    About 6 seems fine to me. It depends on the child and the amount.

  • Lewis Brown

    June 22, 2018 at 7:34 am

    I wrote a post a while back about savings. http://adventurebrown.co.uk/get-saving-with-your-kids/

    I think it’s important to do this at an early stage. It’s food to get tour kids to understand money to help them in the future.

    My son is 3 and he gets pocket money but he puts it in his money box. And every so often we go to the bank and cash it in. He now has more money than me in his bank haha.

  • Dynamic Dad

    June 22, 2018 at 9:01 am

    Bean is 6 and gets pocket money – albeit inconsistently – and puts it straight in her money box. She’s very reluctant to spend it, which is good – although I do need to work harder on getting her to understand the value of money when she wants something – and spending ‘hers’ in order to do so.

    As to chores, she’s getting used to helping out with some things – and I think it’s important that this is an aside to pocket money, helping around the home and doing a good job of something have their own value – typically much greater than the £1 or so pocket money.

  • Michele Morin

    June 22, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    Good thoughts here!
    I think it’s different for every family, but we linked their “pocket money” to their chores, but also paid extra for extra duties done.

  • Enda Sheppard

    June 22, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    Six sounds right to me too. I don’t think they know how to properly value money or saving before then. #ThatFridayL:inky

  • Wrae Sanders

    June 22, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    Each kid is different so I think it depends on the kid. Starting around 6-8 is a pretty good idea.

  • helen gandy

    June 22, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    Alfie is 6 and we have just started but he has a jobs list each with a different value of worth to it, simple jobs like emptying dishwasher and emptying bins, I think it’s good to show the value of money, so far so good! #ThatFridayLinky

  • Calleen Petersen

    June 22, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    I don’t think any age is too young, but I struggle with giving my kids money for nothing as we don’t generally get that in the real world. Instead, I’ve been basing it off their attitude. They start out the week with $2 if they retain a good attitude about working and helping around the house they can retain that. If they are mouthy it goes down by $0.25 every time.

  • John Adams

    June 23, 2018 at 5:34 am

    It’s based on homework and chores in our house. The eldest gets £5 a week for doing homework and for feeding the cat. Only thing is, we have to remember to pay her! Always a thought provoking subject this. Thanks for hosting #thatfridaylinky

  • Martina

    June 23, 2018 at 11:03 am

    Oh I did a post about this a while ago. Mine are 7 and 5 and we haven’t started on pocket money yet. I do want to do it, to encourage learning about the value of money, but I need to work out how much. And, more importantly what the rules are. No sweets, no plastic tat …but what can you buy for a quid that isn’t rubbish? That’s my conundrum. #thatfridaylinky

  • Claire Rocks

    June 23, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    I have mixed feelings about this. I think a good time is when the child is responsible #thatfridaylinky

  • Jeremy@ThirstyDaddy

    June 23, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    This is something I’ve been thinking about recently too. My daughter is just a bit older than your girls and gets money for going above and beyond in helping out but I haven’t started a weekly allowance yet. I think that I may soon to help teach her about saving and such #thatfridaylinky

  • Jo – Pickle & Poppet

    June 24, 2018 at 8:57 pm

    I think it is important to teach children about money early. Ours don’t get pocket money yet as the oldest is only 4 but when they get money for birthdays we do say they can save it for x or they can spend it. Not sure when we plan to introduce pocket money yet, it’s not something we have discussed! #ThatFridayLinky

  • Ron

    June 27, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    I’m really surprised that you girls aren’t all that interested in spending the pocket money. I remember when i was a kid that all I wanted to do was buy a video game with the money I earned and was just waiting to save enough to buy it. That said, I think it’s cool that you also give them an allowance of sorts and then let them earn more through chores. I’m a big advocate of this myself.

  • Musings of a tired mummy…zzz…

    June 27, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    We kind of give pocket money but not really. They get 10p a day plus an extra 30p a week as a bonus so £1 in total if they help out by putting their flannels and towels away, eat most of their dinner etc. We have never actually handed out any cash but let them buy things when they have ‘saved up’ #thatfridaylinky

  • Mrs Mummy Harris

    June 28, 2018 at 12:58 pm

    Perhaps at the end of the month whatever is left over you all go to the bank and put it into savings for their future? whether it be a car, uni or a house. So its their choice to spend or not to spend. (where they seem reluctant to spend it, it gives a purpose to their lack of shopping.) It also shows an extra incentive to save, but also they’ll learn if they do spend, they save less, if they dont, its more money to invest in something thats life changing?
    we’ve said that we want to do something similar with pocket money and chores, but the chores arent essential as homework is always first, but once thats done they need to help with the house. Hubby isnt very handy around the house and he wants our boys to be different! #thatfridaylinky

  • Kate

    June 28, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    Interesting topic and I think every parent does their own thing and perhaps that is fine. I have tried various options and they all come with their own challenges. I think pocket money at least means that you are not constantly paying out #ThatFridayLinky

  • Out Of Depth Dad

    July 18, 2018 at 10:55 am

    It’s an interesting subject. My son’s too young for pocket money – but as kids mature at different rates, it would seem to me the age they receive a weekly allowance would depend on their ability to responsibly fulfill the tasks asked of them. I’m sure this is something that will cause me some headaches in the future. Thanks for sharing. Chris #ThatFridayLinky

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