16 year olds & money

[hols2florida]

My DS starts full-time college next week, he turned 16 in August. I’ve been casually mentioning him getting a part-time job, without much enthusiasm on his part. I left school at 16 & worked full-time, but obviously things are different now. Do your 16 year olds work alongside college & how do things work financially? At the moment he gets pocket money each week. It’s only £5 a week, which might not be a lot, but he does get his phone contract, Netflix, Spotify & Xbox live paid for. Plus his bus pass is now costing us £36 a month so he can get to college. I don’t have a problem with paying for these, but don’t want him to get into the habit of everything being paid for. So when does pocket money stop? What should I expect him to pay for if he’s working?

[Vinniecat]

When my son started 6th form we told him he had to get a job. It was not just about the money because he isn't a big spender. It was also for his CV. He worked in McDonald's, he didn't like the job but loved saving the money which he is sensible with. He had already been earning some money since he was 14 football refereeing which is actually good pay per hour my older two like to spend and they both had jobs at 14 years old.

[Willeve]

Both of my kids stayed on for 6th form, but got part time jobs by the Christmas of year 12. I continued paying phone contracts, sports subs and packed lunches, they paid for everything else. New clothes, trainers, nights out, holidays with friends. I bought toiletries within the shopping, but my daughter’s make up etc she bought herself. I think it helps teach them how to manage money and a little bit of responsibility- if you don’t have the cash to pay for it, you can’t get it. Mine have never had pocket money, so they loved having their own cash!

[Sandra & co]

My 17 year old is at sixth form, she doesn’t work as we want here to concentrate on getting good grades. She gets £5 a day for lunch and £10 a week pocket money. My sister also gives her £20 per month, she manages on this and we pay for her phone. If she needs to pay for a school trip or clothes we pay for them too! She saves money and just had £250 spending for our holiday in Kefalonia.

[hols2florida]

It’s not just about money for me either. It’s about teaching him that he needs to work for what he wants & also getting him into that work routine/ethic. He doesn’t get his college timetable until next week so once he has that, we can talk about it properly. Thanks.

[floridasarah]

DS is 16 and started his college course on Thursday. They have changed his timetable already. He goes for 3 days a week and the other 2 are supposed to be for home learning. We will encourage him to find a job before Christmas when we see how he is doing with the 'home learning' We want him to start saving for Florida but also to learn about the value of working and saving for what you want. He gets £20 a month pocket money at the moment and money for his snacks at college. We also pay for his phone contract but its not a huge one.

[Procrastinator]

My thought is it sounds like you give a reasonable amount. I wouldn't stop any of it. I might even increase the pocket money a bit. But whatever level you set stick to it and be clear you are going to stick to it. So if he then asks for £20 because he wants to go out to the cinema with his mates, the answer is no. He should have saved his pocket money or got a job.

Difficult balance - you want kids to enjoy life, don't want them to spend all their time in a job and not study, do want them to understand working hard / money and some will get it all a lot more easily than others. Not an easy balance to strike!

[JLH]

my eldest 2 both got jobs at 16 whilst at sixth form and college but my youngest isn't interested however much we nag! he is quite shy and not as confident as the other two but I do wish he would at least try. Apart from his phone he doesn't go out a lot so doesn't cost me that much in that way but I do feel its good for him and his cv. Middle son worked at Mcdonalds and loved it and it gave him good skills for dealing with public and oldest worked at Asda all the way through 6th form and uni.

[dubletrub]

Both of mine got jobs whilst in 6th form. Only a couple of 4hr shifts per week so it didn't affect their study but it teaches them a valuable lesson.
It shows future employers that they have a work ethic, it shows different skill sets to them also.

[floridasarah]

Also our son is on the waiting list for a an assessment for Aspergers/ASD. We know he will have problems interviewing for jobs and will not want a job that involves communicatiing much. This severely cuts down the jobs out there for him. I have suggested filling shelves at Tesco or something like that.