Children have to learn a lot from very early on. Not only the rules at home, but also the rules in traffic and when they go to school, also the school rules. A difficult point for parents is still calculating the amount of pocket money. Now this is very different per family and per child. There is no golden rule of thumb for calculating the amount of pocket money. There are formal rules for calculating the amount of pocket money for children in institutions and foster families. The starting point is to teach children at an early age how to deal with money and expenses for mobile phones and other personal expenses .
Pocket money calculator
It is important that children learn the value of money as early as possible. The school and parents play an important role in this learning process. Children must learn to manage money and realize the value of money. After all, children’s purchasing behavior is determined at an early age. Resisting temptations such as expensive utensils and unnecessary purchases of expensive mobile phones and clothing is an important value in life. The pocket money calculator is therefore a very easy tool to determine the amount of pocket money. The amount of pocket money may differ per child and age.
Determination of the amount of pocket money
In order to calculate the total average pocket money of a child, insight into the child’s expenses and income is required. For example, a child may have the following income:
- Income of the parents;
- Income of other family members such as grandparents/uncle or aunt;
- Income from a side job (delivering newspapers/leaflets, stocking shelves at the supermarket, etc.)
- Income from holiday work.
The amount of pocket money, clothing allowance, calling credit
Every child is different and therefore every child will have a different need for how the money is spent. A child’s expenses can be divided into:
- allowance,
- clothing allowance
- calling credit.
Allowance
When determining the amount of pocket money, a parent will take into account:
- How much a parent has to spend.
- What the child should pay from the pocket money according to the parent.
How much pocket money is enough?
The question “How much pocket money should I give my child?” is sometimes difficult to answer. After all, this depends on various factors. If the pocket money is intended for small expenses, such as candy and toys, then a few euros per week is sufficient. However, if a child has to spend on gifts, a subscription to a youth magazine, membership fees or certain drinks, the parent must calculate the minimum weekly amount of pocket money that should be. That is why it is good to regularly list all the child’s expenses together with the child. In this way it is easy to calculate and keep track of how much pocket money should be sufficient for the child. It is also a great way to teach the child to distinguish between what is really needed and what is really wanted to buy. It is very important for the child that the pocket money is a fixed amount every week and that the amount is also given at a fixed time every week.
Clothing allowance
Children form their own opinions about clothing from a very young age. In practice, it is seen that children of about twelve or thirteen are already very capable of taking responsibility for their own clothing budget. As a rule, clothes are not purchased every week and that is why a clothing budget is a good tool to make children more aware at an early age and to teach them to budget their pocket money. NIBUD advises:
- Consider whether you deposit (part of) the amount into a bank account. This way your child also learns to deal with cashless money.
- Tell your child to regularly put money aside for a more expensive purchase, such as a winter coat. Children sometimes want to forget that.
- Determine a fixed time at which you give or transfer the clothing allowance. This could be once a month or quarterly, for example when you receive child benefit.
- Agree clearly what the child should do with the clothing allowance. For example, should it also pay for underwear, sportswear and clothing repairs? And what about smart clothes for special occasions?
- Set a term for which you agree on the amount.
calling credit
Children are getting their own telephone at an increasingly younger age. Not only a telephone for receiving calls, but also for calling friends. Many parents pay a separate telephone allowance to be able to call with their own mobile phone. It is very useful to make good agreements about:
- Who will pay for the telephone in case of purchase, loss or theft.
- How much calling credit a child can use per week.
- How the calling credit for the mobile phone is given:
- in cash
- on the bank account
- like a card or code
- How the calling costs are divided if the child goes on holiday independently
- and whether the child should make prepaid calls and text messages or with a mobile subscription.
Prepaid
Prepaid has the advantage that payment must be made in advance. In this way, the parent actually determines the amount of the child’s telephone bill. If the child only uses the phone sporadically, do not forget to keep an eye on how long the calling credit is valid.
Subscription
The advantage of a subscription is of course that the child can always call on his mobile phone. As a rule, the parents pay part of the fixed costs and the parents also receive the telephone bill. A disadvantage of a subscription is that parents can sometimes be faced with very unpleasant surprises. This is because the telephone bill must be paid afterwards.
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- Taxes and household expenses related to a child/family
- How much pocket money should I give my child?