And how do we teach them to understand money?

Do you trust your child (age dependent) to make decisions with pocket money? 

How much do you give? And how did you come to this amount?

What are you expecting them to pay for out of that? And have you set these ground rules?

💡 ESTABLISHING HOW MUCH POCKET MONEY

Establishing pocket money values can be difficult.

I expect your kids will gladly tell you how much their friends are getting and how it’s “not fair” that they get less. 

£9.74 is the UK’s 2026 pocket money index (yes that exists) but of course this fluctuates depending on age & affordability.

Mowing the lawn is the most popular job apparently at £3.50 a time! I suppose it depends on how big the lawn is & how much you despise doing it yourself! Do you expect your child to earn it, or do you prefer to just provide it?

We’ll explore the earning side below, and if you do decide to create a system for earning money, there are ways to approach it that suit the age and capacity of your child, plus you don’t want them demanding cash every time they make a contribution to the running of their home.

Rooster Money is a great resource. BUT, I’m going to say it right now because when you read this you’ll see the use of the word I hate: CHORES.

DO NOT CALL ESSENTIAL HOMEMAKING TASKS “C H O R E S”.

What a weight of burden & drudgery to give a young person!

Call them something energising & motivating;

“My Family Jobs” or “Team Smith Homemaking Projects”. 

Here’s your link for more tips and suggestions > Rooster Money

💡 PERSONAL FINANCE SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS

I have lost count for every time a person has said “Personal Finance should be taught in schools”.

I agree, and whilst financial literacy is different to maths, there needs to be a level of applied maths relating to real life. Some of that should be finance related. I do however believe, that learning about money is an experience.

Cash still creates an emotional and intellectual transaction in our minds. You know yourself how differently it feels to hand over a crisp £20 note, there’s a micro moment where you ought to let go but you don’t want to! And you can clearly see how much you have left, it goes fast.

A digital budget feels more abstract. (I feel passionate we don’t stop using cash despite what Elon says, I cannot imagine a sterile cashless society) and you have to keep track of it more carefully. With cash you can see right in front of you what you have left and that will always make you choose more intentionally in the moment.

💡EARNING POCKET MONEY – PRACTICAL IDEAS

Let’s say you’re going to encourage your kids to decide how they want to spend the treats budget for the weekly shop. Crisps, biscuits, fizzy drinks, percy pigs, whatever! They get to choose what they buy for that money. I can guarantee you’ll see them adding it up as they go around the supermarket, choosing the 3 for 2 offers, negotiating swaps with their siblings, and feeling ownership of the whole experience. This will include the understanding that when they scoff the lot in 3 days, they know that they have no more until the next shopping trip.

And that, is a lesson learned in real life, that no school could teach. It needs to be felt, lived and experienced. The consequences of their decisions viscerally felt.

When you’re young, being given money feels great. But, that doesn’t always create the same emotional resonance that is needed to form a positive bond with money.

A birthday gift is different of course & the odd pound here and there. But when your child has done something to exchange their skills and time for pocket money, then, pardon the pun, the penny will drop.

If you need to learn more about suitable cards for kids, you have more info here > MSE

💡 Exchanging time and skills for money is a great life lesson.

Putting out the bins, cleaning the fridge, hoovering the house, cleaning the car, carrying in the food shopping … the very act of contributing to the household in some meaningful way changes the game for everybody. I know some friends who have worked their fingers to the bone doing everything for their (seemingly ungrateful) kids and the resentment they felt was huge. The arguments attesting to this one sided split of fairness.

I also know a couple of single mums, who have had to raise their child / children where they contributed naturally to family jobs every day because it wasn’t possible for mum to do it all alone. That was their, very lovely, normal.

Only a couple of generations ago, including my own grandparents who were part of enormous families, 8+ siblings, it was normal that the eldest kids helped with the young ones and learned to cook & clean.

💡 Create a list, together, of suitable tasks.

Let’s say you pay £2 an hour, and call it 50p for each small job likely to take 15 mins. They can choose which jobs they’d like to do, maybe limited to weekends & holidays, or just one short job per day. They can have fun ticking things off that list. Great for friendly competition between them as well.

Caveat, when children are acting as carer’s to their unwell parents then that’s a whole different thing entirely.

Planning a family day out or set of activities for the school holidays.

Tell them there’s £50 for the day, or for a couple of activities, and it’s their fun responsibility to plan it for the family! They need to factor in cost to get there, how they will have something to eat and drink, and can they find any discounts? When they get involved in the conversation, become part of the planning and decision making, your mental fatigue is removed. And you say goodbye to the constant negotiations and explaining that you “can’t afford it”.

A great reframe here, for your own benefit as much as there’s is “It’s not in the budget” or “We’ve got other plans for that money”

Gamify it so that it’s interesting, and you’re teaching them critical thinking skills. They may realise very sweetly, that they’d rather save you the money and do something for free instead. And they can do the research for that too.

Have you tried Muddy Stilettos for what’s going on in your area?

And the National Trust have a Summer of Play program and events throughout the year.

What else would you suggest?

Thanks for reading

Lucy x

ps. If you like these blogs but prefer to go into things a bit more deeply; more resources, more guidance, more support, more stories, just, you know, MORE, head over to The Kitchen Table Money Club where you can unlock ALL of my digital toolkits.

https://www.lucywallington.substack.com