Nebbermind:

Have to be careful when selling things to friends. Some (parents) believe that kids shouldn't be making money out from friends. Also, when things spoil or fail, there tends to be unhappiness and friendship will be affected.

While it's a good learning experience, have to put some thoughts into the consequences when things donch go according to plan.

slmkhoo:

ngl2010:

DS is spendthrift :gloomy:

Maybe it's time to do some budgeting with him and set him a limit for each outing? When my girls were about that age and starting to go out more, we talked about the cost of things like food etc. It's good for them to compare costs between hawker centre, food court, fast food, restaurants etc. Sometimes, they just haven't consciously thought about it because they aren't paying! We have always been a very 'needs-based' family in that we don't usually buy things until the old ones have worn out, or we will debate and discuss whether we really need something, so that has made my kids careful shoppers. I usually give them extra 'emergency money' of $20-30 but they will keep that aside and return it to me if it's not used. They know it's not to be used for casual spending.

MMM:

For us, so far it's twice after PSLE. We probably need to set some SOP in place as maybe the regularity will increase going forward as they are older. But I suppose with sec school schedule, there isn't alot of time for them to do such stuff?


For the 1st, we gave her $50. dd went shopping with her friends at orchard. She did come back with stuff eg. bags, shops, etc...

For the 2nd time, with different group of friends, they wanted to catch a movie, lunch, etc... frankly in my mind, I was thinking if she goes out every week, that would be easily $200 a month????? For a child who is still not earning $ does that make sense and will she think that $ comes easily. But on the other hand, with inflation these days, things are not cheap either. dh ended up giving her $50 but on the condition that she has to buy bd gifts for her siblings (which she did).

dd opened a blogshop after PSLE that she managed to sell stuff to friends. We provided the \"capital\". But we channel the income of that shop to a \"fund\" where she cannot get to spend the $ freely. It is used for \"future\" investment for her blogshop.

ngl2010:

DS is spendthrift :gloomy:

jjxy mum:

Nebbermind:

[quote=\"ngl2010\"]
Recently once a week but next week will be 3 times. They will go to a friend's house then go to mall for lunch and back to the friend's house.

Thank you for reminding me about hanging out in malls. I will remind DS not to hang out in the mall.

Since it's so often and only having lunch, I would give only $5 and ask my kid to top up using own money if they spend more. $5 enough to buy value meals.

Nebbermind:

ngl2010:

Recently once a week but next week will be 3 times. They will go to a friend's house then go to mall for lunch and back to the friend's house.

Thank you for reminding me about hanging out in malls. I will remind DS not to hang out in the mall.

Since it's so often and only having lunch, I would give only $5 and ask my kid to top up using own money if they spend more. $5 enough to buy value meals.

zbear:

Nebbermind:

I guess what most parents are concerned about is they will spend the money wastefully. But one can easily gauge that by the way they spent their normal allowance. I think $20 is the most they can spend in an afternoon (1 movie tix + 1 meal).

I only give $20 for the outing. DS doesn't shop so its more than enough. For DD, she will use her own savings if she want to buy something. I have cultivated the habit of being thrifty in them so she will think many times before she will buy n its usually below $10.

BlueBells:

This is what we do :


1. We give 3/5 of the normal pocket money during school holidays.

2. Occassional lunch with classmates after school is out of their pocket money.

3. Movies with friends and outings during holidays are on us, provided it is not last minute notice.

4. Left over $$ are theirs to save. We are concern if we said return the remaining, there may not be any remainder in due time, so children who are into savings will automatically spend less, so they can save more.

5. I must have at least 2 other mobile numbers of their friends with whom they are going out with.

6. If they are to take a cab home for whatever reason, they must call us while in the cab and tell us the license plate number of the cab, and be sure to be loud enough so the cabby can hear as well, for security reasons.

7. If they are not home on time, they are grounded for 1 month.

slmkhoo:

ngl2010:

[quote=\"slmkhoo\"]What is your agreement on what is covered by the regular pocket money? I will give extra to my kids if the outing costs more than their regular spending or if they are doing something out of the norm. Transportation is always covered by me as I top up their EZlink cards as when necessary. During holidays, I give the same amount of pocket money as during term time, so if they haven't been spending it, I will let them pay for themselves if it's approximately what they would have spent in school. For some things, I will sponsor some and they will pay for the rest. Basically, it varies! My kids are not very money-minded so they accept whatever arrangement I decide on.

We don't give pocket money during school holidays. Previously DS seldom has outings with friends so we usually give him money to spend whenever he is going out with his friends. As it looks like he is going out more often with his friends these days, I am wondering what other parents usually do because we want to cultivate the right habit from beginning.

Nebbermind:

ngl2010:

Recently once a week but next week will be 3 times. They will go to a friend's house then go to mall for lunch and back to the friend's house.

Thank you for reminding me about hanging out in malls. I will remind DS not to hang out in the mall.

Since it's so often and only having lunch, I would give only $5 and ask my kid to top up using own money if they spend more. $5 enough to buy value meals.

ngl2010:

Recently once a week but next week will be 3 times. They will go to a friend's house then go to mall for lunch and back to the friend's house.

Thank you for reminding me about hanging out in malls. I will remind DS not to hang out in the mall.

Nebbermind:

I guess what most parents are concerned about is they will spend the money wastefully. But one can easily gauge that by the way they spent their normal allowance. I think $20 is the most they can spend in an afternoon (1 movie tix + 1 meal).

ngl2010:

slmkhoo:

What is your agreement on what is covered by the regular pocket money? I will give extra to my kids if the outing costs more than their regular spending or if they are doing something out of the norm. Transportation is always covered by me as I top up their EZlink cards as when necessary. During holidays, I give the same amount of pocket money as during term time, so if they haven't been spending it, I will let them pay for themselves if it's approximately what they would have spent in school. For some things, I will sponsor some and they will pay for the rest. Basically, it varies! My kids are not very money-minded so they accept whatever arrangement I decide on.

We don't give pocket money during school holidays. Previously DS seldom has outings with friends so we usually give him money to spend whenever he is going out with his friends. As it looks like he is going out more often with his friends these days, I am wondering what other parents usually do because we want to cultivate the right habit from beginning.

Nebbermind:

ngl2010:

We don't give pocket money during school holidays. Previously DS seldom has outings with friends so we usually give him money to spend whenever he is going out with his friends. As it looks like he is going out more often with his friends these days, I am wondering what other parents usually do because we want to cultivate the right habit from beginning.

How often? What do they do? At P6, I don't like the idea of my kids hanging out in malls.

ngl2010:

We don't give pocket money during school holidays. Previously DS seldom has outings with friends so we usually give him money to spend whenever he is going out with his friends. As it looks like he is going out more often with his friends these days, I am wondering what other parents usually do because we want to cultivate the right habit from beginning.

lexis:

I don't ask for the money back usually - he will usually offer to return it without me asking

slmkhoo:

What is your agreement on what is covered by the regular pocket money? I will give extra to my kids if the outing costs more than their regular spending or if they are doing something out of the norm. Transportation is always covered by me as I top up their EZlink cards as when necessary. During holidays, I give the same amount of pocket money as during term time, so if they haven't been spending it, I will let them pay for themselves if it's approximately what they would have spent in school. For some things, I will sponsor some and they will pay for the rest. Basically, it varies! My kids are not very money-minded so they accept whatever arrangement I decide on.

Nebbermind:

My boy has the habit of updating me on how much he spent. Whatever left goes to his next-week allowance.


How old his your kid? P6?

I guess what most parents are concerned about is they will spend the money wastefully. But one can easily gauge that by the way they spent their normal allowance. I think $20 is the most they can spend in an afternoon (1 movie tix + 1 meal).