Parents often ask whether they should give pocket money or use a reward chart. The honest answer is that they do different jobs, and many families end up using both. Here’s how to think about it.
What pocket money teaches
Pocket money is about managing money. A child who gets a fixed amount each week learns that money runs out, that saving for something means not spending on something else, and that a choice made on Monday affects Saturday. Those are valuable lessons, and the earlier they start, the cheaper the mistakes.
Pocket money given regardless of behaviour is not a reward. It’s practice. That’s its strength: it separates money from chores, so your child doesn’t learn that helping at home is something you do only when paid.
What a reward chart teaches
A reward chart is about habits. A child earns stars for doing things you want to become routine (brushing teeth, reading, praying on time, helping at home) and spends them on rewards you’ve agreed together. It teaches that effort leads somewhere, and it makes progress visible to a child who can’t yet hold a goal in their head.
Because stars aren’t money, the rewards can be things money can’t buy: choosing the weekend activity, an extra bedtime story, a trip to the park with one parent. These are often the rewards children value most.
Why not pay for chores?
Some families do, and it can work for older children with bigger, optional jobs, like washing the car. But paying for everyday chores has a cost. Children may start to ask “how much?” before helping, and stop helping once they have enough money. Most families want children to help at home because they’re part of the family, not because it pays.
Stars sit in the middle. They recognise effort without turning family life into a job.
Using both
A common approach that works well:
- Pocket money is a fixed weekly amount, not tied to chores, for children to learn to manage.
- A reward chart tracks the habits you’re building, with rewards that are mostly time and experiences.
- Occasionally, a big reward on the chart can be something with a cost, like a new book or a football, that a child saves up stars for over a few weeks.
If you want, some of the rewards on the chart can be pocket money too. In that case you give the money yourself; the chart just keeps count.
Saving up teaches patience
Whether it’s money or stars, saving towards a goal is where the real learning happens. A child who chooses something they want, sees how far away it is, and watches it get closer is practising patience and planning. Keep the first goal small, so they can reach it in a week or two and trust that saving works. We wrote more about this in Saving up teaches patience.
Where Sitaray fits
Sitaray is a reward chart, not a bank. Stars have no money value and Sitaray never handles money. Your children earn stars for the tasks you set, spend them on rewards you choose, and can save towards a goal with a date, so they can see whether they’re on track. If you also give pocket money, keep doing that as you are. Try Sitaray free while it’s in beta.
Try it with your family
Sitaray counts the stars, holds the rewards and keeps both parents in step. It’s free while in beta.
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