Pocket money paying for good manners and help around home

Good manners cost nothing according to the old saying. However, the latest research from The Children’s Mutual has found that this is not strictly true, because 44 per cent of children are now financially rewarded for good behaviour.

The research reveals that, as well as good behaviour, parents are also offering an ‘honest wage’ for a hard day’s work. 37 per cent of children ‘earn’ their pocket money by helping out with chores around the home and 19 per cent fill their piggy banks by helping out with the family pet.

According to research, the rate for pocket money has increased by a whopping 83 per cent in just a generation from when parents received pocket money until today. Parents are already giving an average of £2.85 a week to their child and with many parents expecting to increase this amount by £1 each year.

However, despite the rise in pocket money, the research showed that parents are often unsure of how much to ‘pay’ their children and can feel pressurised to compete with how much other parents give. Nearly one in five said there was pressure to conform to a ‘market rate’ and 16 per cent said they feel they pay too much but ‘have to go with what everyone gets’.

The Children's Mutual has launched a new micro site which has been created to help parents teach their children about pocket money and saving. Parents can put a value against each chore to help their kids to learn the value of money. Children also have their own user-friendly guide which helps them to understand where money comes from, how to budget, keeping money safe, and ways of saving for the items they want.

Question 1 Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text:

a) Walking the dog is the most common way to get money from parents.
b) Parents used to get further less pocket money than their children.
c) Parents feel confident about the money they give their children.
d) Some parents feel obliged to pay a minimum to their children.

Question 2 Answer these questions in your own words with information from the text:

a) What can children do to “earn” money?
b) What can parents and children learn about money?

Question 3 Find a word or phrase in the text that means the same as:

a) Housekeeping task (par.2)
b) To adjust (par.4)
c) To start (par. 5)

Question 4 Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning

a) Parents are also offering an ‘honest wage’ for a hard day’s work.
An honest...
b) Children earn their pocket money by helping out with chores around the home.
If children...
c)Good manners cost nothing. However, research has found that this is not strictly true.
Although...

Question 5 Write a short essay (120 to 150 words) on the following topic:

“Good manners cost nothing”. Do you agree with this saying?