Last week I took part in a twitter party about pocket money, sponsored by pktmny, and I asked the question "What age do you start giving pocket money?" I was shocked to find out that people were giving their 3 and 4 year old's pocket money. Big man has just turned 5 and doesn't get any. He does get money from people, but generally I am in control of what he does with it. Having his own money to save up for things and spend as he wishes will help teach him the value of money. I asked him if he knew what pocket money was. He did, as he had seen it on the TV. I asked him what he would do with his money if we gave him some pocket money. There was no hesitating: "buy sweets!" When I explained that too many sweets was bad for you, he suggested that he would share them with his brother!

Big man does a lot of clubs, and I think asking him to make a contribution to these will help him decide which ones are the most important. He is also very interested in Science at the moment. His current school library book is this!



He seems to be working his way through the series as we now know all about moon moths, earwigs,stickleback and how to grow potatoes and strawberries. He has expressed an interest in buying some "science things" with his birthday money, so maybe all his pocket money wont go on sweets after all. At the end of the day, big man is growing up, and it is important that he learns how to manage his own money. Come the new year we will go through the whole idea with him and hopefully after a few trips to the newsagents he will be all sugared out, and saving for the latest toy.....


.....or book on slugs!



How old were your children when they started getting pocket money? Did they just buy sweets or were they good and able to save for a toy that they really wanted? Do you encourage your children to give some of their pocket money to charity? I would love to know your answers as it is all new territory to me!





This is my entry to  #pktmnyparents Linky on BritMums - click the picture above to see other entries or enter yourself. Pktmny is a new pocket money website for children. I have had a quick look at the site and it enables you to pay your children online, which after a disastrous week of remembering to put chocolates in their advent calender, sounds a great idea. I will be checking the site out further, over the Christmas period ready for big man to start saving and spending in the New Year.