Pocket Money for Primary 1

[Nihauma]

I give my son 1.50. He is in p1. Usually he will have some left for saving. He also has 2 for emergency money in his bag, ever since the day he forgot to bring his wallet to school and he borrowed money from his teacher…very thick skin…

[huaywenandkenneth]

I give him $2 in coins, but DS (P2 now) usually spends $0.80 to $1.20 depending on what he eats for recess. I top up his wallet daily with new coins, and even on days that I forget, he will have enough.

[UncleLim]

I think $1 is ok. If there is an urgent thing to buy they can learn to borrow and pay back the next day. That is their introduction to loans and repayment !

[JaniceMummy]

i give my son $2 per day.

His school selling a small bowl of noodle at $0.60. the rest of the money, he save it. Btw sometimes he can spend $1.00 on rice.

[3kiddos]

I give $1/day for my kids during p1-2. Most dishes cost 60-70 cents.

[mrsoh]

Thank you parents for all the info! Very insightful and definitely helpful. I shall check out the school canteen to see how things are priced

[zadrian]

For a start, maybe I would strongly recommend visiting the school.


Most schools like my daughters have food priced for the older kids but quite close to the outside market prices which I cannot fault them as these stall normally operate from 6:30am to like 4pm only.

I have been to the school, felt like a GIANT and ate like one…trying out at least 4 stalls…rice, noodles, Muslim stall and drinks stall.

So for my dotter, I gave her $1 for drink (only 3 times a week), $2 for breakfast or snacks before school (I drop her off rather early, before 7am), $2 for daily recess, $2 for after school lunch. I usually pick her up at 3pm other than Thursdays at 4pm.

But I also ensure that she has emergency money of 1x $5 note + 2x $10 note as the school does not allow children to bring in mobile phones or have the mobile phones exposed. So I would not allow her to carry a mobile phone in the bag in silent mode but I do have a cardless mobile in her bag so she can buy a SIM card during times of emergency.

Furthermore, there are no coin public phones in the school, so I have to ensure that she can purchase a phone card or SIM card when she requires one.