Pocket money, stars, or both? How they fit together
“Will I get a euro if I take the bins out?” Why pocket money and helping out are better kept apart – and where stars fit sensibly in between.
Picture your eight-year-old daughter standing in the kitchen with a catalogue. On page three, a building set for 25 euros is circled. “Can I earn that? I'll take the bins out every day.”
That sounds reasonable enough at first — the bins have to go out anyway. Even so, it is worth a second look before you shake on it. Pocket money, pitching in and rewards do quite different jobs.
The short version
- The German Youth Institute (DJI) recommends paying pocket money by the start of school at the latest, regularly and without the child having to ask.
- Since 2025 the DJI has recommended 1 to 2 euros a week for children under 6, 2 to 3 euros for 6- to 7-year-olds and 3 to 4 euros a week for 8- to 9-year-olds.
- Pocket money should be neither a reward for good behaviour or good marks nor cut as a punishment.
- Ordinary help around the house should not be paid for out of pocket money; only special extra jobs can be paid for separately.
- Stars can make everyday help visible and be exchanged for shared experiences rather than for money.
What is pocket money for?
Pocket money is money a child may spend as they like. According to the DJI, it lets children practise managing a limited budget, setting priorities, saving, and learning from purchases that turn out badly. For that to work it should come regularly and on time — weekly for younger children, monthly for older ones.
How much pocket money is appropriate?
The DJI updated its pocket-money table in September 2025. For children up to 13 it recommends these amounts:
| Age | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| under 6 | 1 to 2 euros a week |
| 6 to 7 | 2 to 3 euros a week |
| 8 to 9 | 3 to 4 euros a week |
| 10 to 11 | 15 to 25 euros a month |
| 12 to 13 | 20 to 30 euros a month |
The DJI expressly treats the table as orientation, not a rule. More important than the exact amount is that it suits what your family can manage and that it arrives reliably.
Should there be pocket money for housework?
Here the DJI is clear: regular, age-appropriate help around the house is part of family life and should not be tied to pocket money or “paid for” through it. The social pedagogue Beate Weymann gives a plain reason in the IFP family handbook: a child who is paid for helping can equally draw the conclusion that if they are not being paid, they do not have to do anything.
The reverse is just as tricky. Cutting pocket money because a room is untidy undermines its function as a reliable budget for learning, says the DJI, and can strain the trust between parents and child. The DJI does allow one exception: for special extra services, such as substantial work in the garden, a small payment agreed beforehand can be appropriate — clearly separate from the pocket money.
Pocket money is for practising; helping out is part of family life. Both get easier when you do not mix them.
Where do stars fit in?
Between “that is simply part of it” and “there is money for that” lies a lot of room. Stars make visible what a child contributes day to day, without touching the pocket money. They are exchanged for things that are hard to measure in euros: choosing the film on Friday evening, making pancakes together, an afternoon at the pool.
Because children save towards a goal in the process, they practise something similar to pocket money along the way: waiting, planning, deciding. According to the DJI, pre-school children do understand that you exchange coins for goods at the till, but not yet the value of individual coins. Stars you can count and watch grow are a vivid place to practise.
Three models that work well together
- Fixed pocket money, stars for experiences. The pocket money comes every week, whatever happens. Everyday jobs earn stars, which are exchanged for time together or small privileges.
- Fixed pocket money, extra money for extra jobs. Whoever helps with the big clear-out in the cellar gets a small amount agreed beforehand, separate from both the pocket money and the everyday jobs.
- Stars first, pocket money later. At nursery age, stars can be a vivid way in. By the start of school at the latest the pocket money joins them, and the stars stay for family life.
How Fleißstern helps here
In Fleißstern you decide what is available for how many stars: a cinema evening, a favourite meal, or an extra euro if you do want to bring money into it. The star account shows every star with its history and every reward redeemed. A bar shows your child how close the next goal already is, and when they wish for something, the stars are set aside until you say yes.
Our tip, in line with the DJI's recommendations: keep the pocket money outside the app — reliable and without conditions. Which jobs suit which age is set out in chores for children by age.
Common questions
At what age should children get pocket money?
The German Youth Institute recommends starting by the beginning of school at the latest, so at six or seven. For children under six, the DJI table names 1 to 2 euros a week. From ten onwards the recommendations switch from weekly to monthly amounts.
How much pocket money does an 8-year-old get?
The German Youth Institute recommends 3 to 4 euros a week for children aged 8 to 9. The table is expressly orientation rather than a rule. More important than the exact amount is that it suits what the family can manage and that it is paid reliably.
May pocket money be cut as a punishment?
The German Youth Institute advises against cutting or withholding pocket money as a punishment. Such practices undermine its function as a reliable budget for learning, says the DJI, and can strain the trust between parents and child. Behaviour can be addressed in other ways.
What is the German “pocket money paragraph”?
That is the nickname for section 110 of the German Civil Code. It provides that a contract — a purchase, say — made by a child without their parents' consent is nonetheless effective if the child pays for it in full with money given to them for that purpose or to spend freely. It applies from the age of seven, because from then on children have limited capacity to contract under section 106.
Sources
- Chabursky & Langmeyer (2025): Taschengeld und Gelderziehung. Eine Expertise mit aktualisierten Empfehlungen zum Thema Taschengeld – German Youth Institute (DJI)
- Wie viel Taschengeld ist für Kinder und Jugendliche angemessen? – German Youth Institute (DJI), 17/09/2025
- Ist es sinnvoll, dass Kinder im Haushalt mithelfen? (Beate Weymann) – IFP-Familienhandbuch, Bavarian State Institute of Early Childhood Research
- Section 106 of the German Civil Code (BGB) – limited capacity to contract of minors – Federal Ministry of Justice, gesetze-im-internet.de
- Section 110 of the German Civil Code (BGB) – performance by minors using their own means – Federal Ministry of Justice, gesetze-im-internet.de