Kids More Than Four Times Better Off Than Their Parents Were

By Alison Steed

CHILDREN today are better off than their parents were thanks to a whopping 419 per cent rise in the average amount of pocket money they are given, according to research from Halifax.

Over the past 21 years, children have seen their average weekly handout grow from £1.18 a week in 1987 to £6.13 in 2008, a stellar increase which is almost four times the rate of inflation over the same period, making today’s children better off in real terms than their parents.

In total, British parents and grandparents paid out a whopping £1.7 billion in 2008 to youngsters. But even though the average now is much higher than 21 years ago, children have suffered in the credit crunch too, since the highest amount received on average each week was £8.37 in 2005.
There are regional variations in the figures though, with children in the more affluent area of Greater London getting £8.47 a week on average, compared with children in the East Midlands getting £4.46 – nearly half as much.
Saving fashions have changed dramatically too, as in 1987 girls were primarily saving for holidays and boys were saving for sports. Now, children are more likely to spend their pocket money on sweets, chocolates and crisps, and will pester their parents to buy them other goods.
More than half of children now expect someone else to foot the bill for their clothes, but the desire for technological gadgets now is a sign of the times, replacing popular toys in 1987 such as ‘Sylvanian Families’, musical socks and karaoke machines.
More than three quarters of children now have a mobile phone, nearly nine in 10 have a games console, and nearly seven in 10 own an iPod.
The average number of tracks downloaded from the internet by children is four a week, amounting to £3.16 – half the average weekly pocket money.