According to the report by market analysts Mintel, the average 11 to 14-year-old is given pound;7.34 a week in pocket money. That’s more than pound;1 a day.

Right now, more than half a billion of the world’s children are living on less than 55p a day. Great though pocket money is, if UK teenagers gave even just a fraction of their weekly allowance, which normally goes on sweets, fizzy drinks, phone cards, CDs and clothes, they would collectively be able to sponsor thousands of children through international aid and development charity, World Vision.

The charity’s child sponsorship scheme, which costs just 60p a day, would enable children in the UK to learn about life in another country and have the chance to correspond with another young person overseas.

What’s more, the sponsorship money could help to make a massive difference to the life of a child struggling to survive.

This money is enough to immunise a child against six childhood killer diseases, to give them a guaranteed supply of food, to buy a mosquito net to protect them from malaria, to enable them to have safe, clean drinking water and to have vital equipment such as books, pens and a uniform so that they can go to school.

Perhaps as we teach our children how to manage their finances wisely and become more independent, we could also encourage them to think of others who have very little and by becoming a child sponsor, help change the lives of children and families in some of the world’s poorest countries.

To sponsor a child through World Vision please call 0800 501010.
Andrea Stephens
World Vision
Milton Keynesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;