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Saturday 8 August 2015

Pocket Money.... Right or Wrong?

As we stroll down the toy isle of the supermarket I can hear James behind us in his element surrounded by toys. He of course, like most children wants everything in sight and regularly pesters us for toys he wants or in his words NEEDS!. This has been a regular occurrence since he has been old enough to ask for toys we of course don't want him to think he can just get everything he asks for and so came about the conversation about pocket money.

Of course there are lots of things we naturally want to teach our children such as sharing, manners and right and wrong but I also wanted my children to learn about the value of money. I wanted them to know in simple terms that money doesn't come from trees and sometimes we can't just have the things we want we must save or earn those things.

So after a bit of deliberation we decided we would give James £1 a week pocket money. We went out and brought James a nice new piggy bank to save his pocket money in and explained to him we would be giving him £1 a week which he could save up to buy the toys he wanted. He was over the moon and to start with thought his £1 would buy him the world. We initially had to explain to him how much things are and how many £1 coins he would need to buy each item but he soon understood.


After some time had passed he had built up a good amount (and had a little birthday money) so we took James to Toys R Us, they have little mini trolleys which he took and we let him take the lead. He filled his trolley to the brim with all the toys he liked and then before we got to the til we explained how much money he had and explained that he had to choose the toys he really wanted as he couldn't buy them all. So he sorted through them and picked the toys he really wanted and without tears which we were worried about and off he headed to the til!

It really worked! Not only did he learn about the value of money but it made him think about the toys he "really" wanted and just the toys he had picked up on a whim.
James was beaming with delight as he handed over his saved up coins and proudly told the checkout lady he had saved them all himself. He carried out his big bag full of toys all the way to the car refusing to let anyone help and the look on his face said it all he was beaming with a smile and so proud!

When Evelyn came along we knew we would need to do the same for her. So now Evelyn also has a money pot too as we want James to see that they both must save for things they want and so she gets the same £1 each week. Of course we do occasionally treat him to things from our money but not all the time and I think he really appreciates the toys more knowing he has brought them himself!
James has been getting pocket money since he was about 3 and for us pocket money has worked a treat he has learnt lots about the value of money and how much things cost, he knows that coins have different values and that sometimes you must save up for the things you really want.

As he gets older we may start giving him the opportunity to earn more money from helping out around the house etc but for now he is perfectly happy with his £1 a week and learning about the way money works.

Do you give your children pocket money?

xXx

14 comments:

  1. Children need to learn about the value of money.
    My girls get £3 a week (They are 7 & 12) and can earn more by doing jobs around the house.....They always save at least half but do spend some...

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    1. Totally agree! I think when children are a little older introducing some simple jobs around the house is a great way for them to be able to earn a little extra. xx

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  2. I think £1 is enough for children under 6. They need to learn the value of money but there's no point in giving them too much.

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    1. Definitely agree, I think any more than £1 and it kind of defeats the object and would just get wasted! x

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  3. That's so lovely - and really interesting. My daughter's three and I've been wondering about this as well, as she's just started asking for things. She gets quite a few extras for reviews, and to entertain her on flights, already so this might be something we'll think about soon.

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  4. Well at the moment i think my just 4 year old is too young to understand. When I was a child I had the choice to either have pocket money OR just have something when we were out. I never had pocket money and I've grown up to be extremely wise with my money. I don't believe children have to have pocket money to learn the value of money. x

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  5. Yup - I love this idea! I had a similar thing with my kids & money. I don't let them buy every week though because they would have the house even more full of toys. It's great to get the concept of saving & the value of money x

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  6. I did not I felt that I wanted them to learn to help out and then get surprise treats. That waythey did not do things for pocket money and I had no need to withhold it. However I learnt a good trick on holidays to avoid the asking for ice cream and treats I gave them an allowance to spend as they wished, daily or to save for a big treat. My daughter actually started saying ice creams were a rip off and refused to buy haha, she saved money for a toy or clothes

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  7. great idea, very true about kids needing to learn the value of money and this is a great way to teach them

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  8. No not yet, but one is two months old and the other has just turned three. It is something however that we will do at some point, learning about the value of money is not something that was ever explained to me growing up.

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  9. Firstly, how cute is that money box eeee! Love it. I did give my little peeps pocket money but I haven't over the summer as I've been paying for lots of day trips and weekends away etc anyway. It will resume this week however. They have to do a few small tasks to get theirs x

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  10. My little boy is only two and a half at the moment and doesn't receive pocket money because he's too young to understand about it yet but when he's older I definitely will introduce it to him. That piggy bank you have just reminds me of Toy Story! :)

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  11. Love the piggy bank! My three don't have pocket money yet, but I think they would benefit from it. They're asking and learning about money all the time, so it would help I'm sure.

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  12. We've just started giving our son, who is five, a £1 a week. He rushes off and puts his 'Saturday money' in his money box which his aunt gave him for Christmas. At the moment he seems happy to leave it in there.

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