When did your kids start buying their own tickets?

[mustinjourney]

My DGD would have been able to. My DD woudl not have had her do so, but she woudl have the money saved if that was what she wanted. The child has understood what money was ever since I bought her the first littl epocketbook to go with her dresses. Nana gave her purses, Pa gave her dollars to put inside. The child never would let the whole dollar go! LOL! SHe still will never spend all of whatever she sets aside. No matter what, money, treats, etc...she makes sure there is some for tomorrow.

The 13 year old can sock away $1000 every year?

 

[Nancyg56]

The 13 year old can sock away $1000 every year?

She sure can. That child works on our farm all summer long and puts every dime away. She also babysits and will dog sit for her uncle.

ETA: Kady could sock that money away, and in fact she does, but she would never spend it on an annual pass. SHe is 15, a sophomore in HS< a member of the FFA, and has been an intern for the past 6 months, 4 days after the age tha she woudl be able to do so. She has her eye on college and has decided that she does not want to work her first year so she can focus on her grades. In order to do so, she has decided that she needs to save her spending money now so she ca live on it her freshman year in college. What she does not know is that her Pa will match every dime she saves. HE has already been doing that for her vacation spending. He replaces whatever money she saves for her vacation spending.

 

[KrazeeK120]

She sure can. That child works on our farm all summer long and puts every dime away. She also babysits and will dog sit for her uncle.

I doubt a typical 13 year old has that kind of opportunity though.

 

[Nancyg56]

I doubt a typical 13 year old has that kind of opportunity though.

No, but I am also not sure a typical 13 YO would want to. This child has been following her Pa around the farm since she could walk. SHe works harder than most of the adults we have hired, and while she could get away with not doing as much, she won't. We are incredibly proud of her, and foster her interests as much as we can. Her parents take her back and forth to Mystic Aquarium every other week, and wait for her while she is there for her internship. She does not get paid for this,though. It is volunteer. I am tired just thinking about it! LOL!

 

[Princess Minnie321]

When I was 17, my boyfriends family invited me to Disney. They paid my hotel and tickets and for a couple meals we all ate together. I was working so I paid my airfare myself. My boyfriend and I paid for the most of our meals ourselves and I treated him a lot since his family was paying for so much of my trip.

When I was 24, we went on a cruise with his family. We were married so we paid for our own trip. I would never have expected his parents to pay for us since we were out of college, working full time, and married.

I will definitely pay for all family trips with our kids until they are working full time. At that point, I would expect them to start paying and they would also have the option if they want to come. It will depend on our financial situation then to determine how much treating I would do, but I am just thinking that right now at my age, I would never expect our parents to pay for us. My DH and I are very independent and have worked for everything we own.

 

[Nancyg56]

When I was 17, my boyfriends family invited me to Disney. They paid my hotel and tickets and for a couple meals we all ate together. I was working so I paid my airfare myself. My boyfriend and I paid for the most of our meals ourselves and I treated him a lot since his family was paying for so much of my trip.

When I was 24, we went on a cruise with his family. We were married so we paid for our own trip. I would never have expected his parents to pay for us since we were out of college, working full time, and married.

I will definitely pay for all family trips with our kids until they are working full time. At that point, I would expect them to start paying and they would also have the option if they want to come. It will depend on our financial situation then to determine how much treating I would do, but I am just thinking that right now at my age, I would never expect our parents to pay for us. My DH and I are very independent and have worked for everything we own.

Princess- WHen my children were about your age, they paid their own way for much of our trips. THey, like you, are independent and hard working. Now that they are all around 40, our financial circumstances have changed, and we tend to pay for more now than we did 15 years ago. We figure we will do so when we can, because in a few years, we may not be comfortable doing so. DH is working, we are empty nesters, and I work part time. Once he retires, who knows? We make a plan and hope to goodness it works. Maybe in 15 years they will pay towards a vacation for us! LOL! As might you pitch in for your parents.

 

[dmea10]

This is the first year that one of my children is paying her way. She is 23 and wanted to take her daughter to WDW. I am going along and we are splitting everything down the middle. I didn't ask her to pay, but she put the deposit down and has been paying off her half for a few weeks now. We got the dining plan so we don't have to worry about the cost of meals while we are there. I would never expect to have a child under 18 pay for a family trip. They have no choice whether they go or not.

 

[elaine amj]

If a child of 13 gets enough allowance/birthday/holiday/work money to afford to chip in towards stuff, then I can see how it would work. My kids dont get that kind of money (no jobs either).

But they get an extra $100 or so a year in gift money and I have been stashing a lot of that aside for years (now that they are older they decide how much to stash). And yes, I absolutely plan to use it for a trip/fun activity we may not have in our regular budget. There's about $500-600 per kid in there now (I have raided it through the years to pay for things like carnival tickets, attractions, etc).

Now in their teens, I do expect them to pay for their own entertainment when we take them out. But before we go, I am clear about costs and they have the option to go or not. Eg the other day family friends asked if we wanted to go play laser tag. I asked the kids, laying out the cost per game. We went and they each paid for their own games.

The money mainly comes from chore money we pay them. So basically, we still pay for these activities - just in a more roundabout way.

 

[dmea10]

If a child of 13 gets enough allowance/birthday/holiday/work money to afford to chip in towards stuff, then I can see how it would work. My kids dont get that kind of money (no jobs either).

But they get an extra $100 or so a year in gift money and I have been stashing a lot of that aside for years (now that they are older they decide how much to stash). And yes, I absolutely plan to use it for a trip/fun activity we may not have in our regular budget. There's about $500-600 per kid in there now (I have raided it through the years to pay for things like carnival tickets, attractions, etc).

Now in their teens, I do expect them to pay for their own entertainment when we take them out. But before we go, I am clear about costs and they have the option to go or not. Eg the other day family friends asked if we wanted to go play laser tag. I asked the kids, laying out the cost per game. We went and they each paid for their own games.

The money mainly comes from chore money we pay them. So basically, we still pay for these activities - just in a more roundabout way.

Sounds like a good way to teach them the value or money and some responsibility.

 

[LovesTimone]

I really think that as a parent if you want your adult kids along with grandkids to travel with you and you make the invitation you should be prepared to pay. Now if they are making huge amount of bank then of course they should pay.

As far as younger children pitching in, we went the route when they were in the tween years, with mom and dad will buy some for 30 bucks or a T-shirt, and you will have 50.00 to spend on your own but once you spend it no more. We also would let them earn extra by doing extra chores or project around the house.

We paid for our family trip in January for my Grandson 2 birthday and 1st trip to see Mickey.

 

[KarenAylwood]

This thread was very eye-opening to read. It never in a million years would have occurred to me to have my child chip in for a ticket, or pay for really anything except souvenirs or maybe some snacks. My parents are and always have been very financially responsible and taught me to do the same. However, school and extra curriculars were always a huge priority and making money as a child/teen came secondary. I did chores around the house for an allowance and covered my social expenses outside of the house as a teen but if it was a family trip (short or long, big or small), or a family dinner, or really any family activity, my parents covered it. I think that the situation would have been different if I was a "bad kid" and/or getting bad grades in school.

I'm now 34 and pregnant with my second child. DH and I have been careful with money and have had some setbacks in our careers/life in general. We don't go on lavish or expensive vacations but splurged on our honeymoon back when we could afford it. I made a lot of money as a 20 something and early 30s but things changed when we had a family. I paid for a lot more when my parents visited back then than I do now. We drained our emergency account when I was unemployed for 10 months and we're working on building that up. My parents know that we are financially responsible and them paying for things doesn't change that.

My mom really wanted to go on a Disney trip last May before DS turned 3. I told her we couldn't afford it because our emergency fund was still struggling and she said that she would pay for the whole trip and it was really important to her. All in with two dinners away from my parents, parking at the airport, souvenirs (not many) and maybe some other incidentals (DH got sick) we spent $400.

I understand teaching kids the importance of the value of money but my parents were fortunate enough and worked hard enough to cover what we needed to go on vacations. I bought my own souvenirs but I will not ask my children to pitch in for a family trip. I was able to learn the value of working hard and saving without paying for vacations. If it works for your family, then by all means!

 

[Branflakes]

My kids are grown, 21&24. An no longer live at home. One graduated from college one is enlisted in USAF. When we planned trips, we paid. But they were always given plenty of notice, and from about age 14 respectively, they had their own blow money for whatever they wanted. Until they had part time jobs, at 15, they saved money from lawn cutting, leaf raking, pet and house sitting etc. They always managed to have a few hundred for any vacation we took. Now they plan save and go on trips on their own, Disney, cruises, Europe, Jamaica, snowboarding etc and they pay for it. If we were to plan a family vacation, I'd still pay for it if it were our invitation. When they have families, I imagine we rent a grand villa or something and all split the costs between us all. When they have children, hopefully not until I'm 50 and they are a lil but older, I look forward to grandparents and grandkids trips and we will cover it all!

 

[Nancyg56]

This thread was very eye-opening to read. It never in a million years would have occurred to me to have my child chip in for a ticket, or pay for really anything except souvenirs or maybe some snacks. My parents are and always have been very financially responsible and taught me to do the same. However, school and extra curriculars were always a huge priority and making money as a child/teen came secondary. I did chores around the house for an allowance and covered my social expenses outside of the house as a teen but if it was a family trip (short or long, big or small), or a family dinner, or really any family activity, my parents covered it. I think that the situation would have been different if I was a "bad kid" and/or getting bad grades in school.

I'm now 34 and pregnant with my second child. DH and I have been careful with money and have had some setbacks in our careers/life in general. We don't go on lavish or expensive vacations but splurged on our honeymoon back when we could afford it. I made a lot of money as a 20 something and early 30s but things changed when we had a family. I paid for a lot more when my parents visited back then than I do now. We drained our emergency account when I was unemployed for 10 months and we're working on building that up. My parents know that we are financially responsible and them paying for things doesn't change that.

My mom really wanted to go on a Disney trip last May before DS turned 3. I told her we couldn't afford it because our emergency fund was still struggling and she said that she would pay for the whole trip and it was really important to her. All in with two dinners away from my parents, parking at the airport, souvenirs (not many) and maybe some other incidentals (DH got sick) we spent $400.

I understand teaching kids the importance of the value of money but my parents were fortunate enough and worked hard enough to cover what we needed to go on vacations. I bought my own souvenirs but I will not ask my children to pitch in for a family trip. I was able to learn the value of working hard and saving without paying for vacations. If it works for your family, then by all means!

Every family dynamic s different. As I have stated previously, We invite? We pay. If we plan together, we split accordingly.

As my children grew up our circumstances changed, and as they did so, our "subsidizing" did as well. I have no idea how old your child is now, but when mine were over 18 but living at home there were some purchases that we did not fee was necessary but that they wanted. We all chipped in for those. If my kids were teens and they wanted something outside of what the family budget had accounted for, I think we would have had the discussion that they needed to save towards adding on to what we were buying. I don't think that would have been taking advantage.

 

[Sabathamk]

Personally, I wouldn't have a child who's a minor pay for something as expensive as their tickets. However, I'd have no problem using other aspects of vacation as a way of building responsibility, actually I think that's a great idea! You could let them know that if they want souvenirs, snacks between meals, etc. that they'll be responsible for those costs.

I'm not sure how a 13 year old would get the money to pay for their tickets? When we were younger, we had to do chores - stacking firewood was the biggie - to earn our trip to DL. So I guess if they get an allowance that would make sense.

I agree with both of these. Our last trip to WDW, my kids were 5, 3, and 9mo. I had charts for the older two to 'earn money' by doing small jobs around the house like setting the table, vacuuming under the table, putting clothes away, things like that, and the odd time I'd put a 'special sticker' on their chart that was worth more because they did something extra without me asking them. They each earned $15-20 for the vacation that they could use to buy souvenirs. My son didn't want anything (he had his heart set on something else at home, which we got later), but my daughter saw a Tinkerbelle jewelry box the first day and was set on that for the entire trip.

As a kid, we rarely went on vacation. I remember one when I was 10, and again when I was 17, but there was nothing else. Parents paid for it all except for any souvenirs we wanted. I wanted a vacation so bad when I was a kid, but we couldn't save up money because we had no means to earn any. No allowance, lived in the middle of nowhere so no babysitting money (when I finally could babysit, I had to save up for a missions trip I wanted to take in grade 8).

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree with both of these. Our last trip to WDW, my kids were 5, 3, and 9mo. I had charts for the older two to 'earn money' by doing small jobs around the house like setting the table, vacuuming under the table, putting clothes away, things like that, and the odd time I'd put a 'special sticker' on their chart that was worth more because they did something extra without me asking them. They each earned $15-20 for the vacation that they could use to buy souvenirs. My son didn't want anything (he had his heart set on something else at home, which we got later), but my daughter saw a Tinkerbelle jewelry box the first day and was set on that for the entire trip.

As a kid, we rarely went on vacation. I remember one when I was 10, and again when I was 17, but there was nothing else. Parents paid for it all except for any souvenirs we wanted. I wanted a vacation so bad when I was a kid, but we couldn't save up money because we had no means to earn any. No allowance, lived in the middle of nowhere so no babysitting money (when I finally could babysit, I had to save up for a missions trip I wanted to take in grade 8).

I think that teaching children to earn some money for extras is a good idea. My DGD has been doing extras since she was a little one. All age appropriate. We have a small farm and I would take her with me when I went to bring water and food. Her "job" was to help give water and she always wanted to help. Her parents also gave her little extra chores if she wanted them. This child is now 15, and manages to balance her time between school and her internship by adding additional chores in. Some she is paid for, and others because she is part of a family. She has a strong appreciation for the money she earns, and has developed very good time management skills as well as a very good "work" ethic. She has turned down invitations for meals out or movies when she has homework that needs to be completed. I would not underestimate the value of allowing children to earn the extras they want.

 

[2forMe]

No. in Canada. We can work as young as twelve.

I do not know anywhere that would hire a 12 yr old in Canada. 15 is the youngest I have seen.

 

[quandrea]

I do not know anywhere that would hire a 12 yr old in Canada. 15 is the youngest I have seen.

My daughter is 12 and is employed as a baseball umpire.

 

[MichaelWill&Megan'sMom]

We are instilling financial competency in many ways. They help grocery shop, with coupons, and we identify unit prices to pick best values. (I'm a math teacher - I know I'm weird). All my kids purchase their own iPads with money saved from Christmas and birthdays. We pay for vacations, but my kids each get $50 to spend on souvenirs - including tax. Anything they don't spend, they get to keep. We keep track of spending on a ledger because if a couple want to buy things at the same time (or if we are already purchasing something else) the 10% Disney visa can stretch their buying power.

 

[wellesleyprincess]

My daughter is 12 and is employed as a baseball umpire.

I'm curious is this like a regular paycheck where she'd earn enough to put away for a trip or college (university). To me that would be more like dog-sitting, baby-sitting, yard mowing type of thing where a kid may earn like $40-$50 a week for say the 12 weeks of the summer/season.

 

[quandrea]

I'm curious is this like a regular paycheck where she'd earn enough to put away for a trip or college (university). To me that would be more like dog-sitting, baby-sitting, yard mowing type of thing where a kid may earn like $40-$50 a week for say the 12 weeks of the summer/season.

It's like a regular paycheque. Obviously not like an adult would earn but the hours and money are well above babysitting or yard mowing. She's required to file all the necessary government taxes, CPP, EI what have you.