46% of parents admit to occasionally raiding their children’s piggy bank to cover costs of taxis, takeaways, parking and window cleaning

A Nationwide Savings survey of 2,000 parents in the UK has revealed that nearly half of parents of children aged between 4 and 16 years old said that they have taken cash from their child’s piggy bank.

The average amount taken over the last 12 months has been £21.41, but one in 10 parents have taken more than £50! Mums are the biggest culprits while Dads tend to take larger amounts.

So what are the top reasons for taking money from your kids? The survey showed that paying for lunch money, paying small bills like cleaning or the window cleaner, school trips and parking head up the list, while reasons including ‘i was broke’ and ‘i wanted a takeaway’ featured lower down the list.

The vast majority of parents said that they always repay whatever they ‘borrow’ from their children’s piggy banks, but only a third of them actually admitted taking the money to their children, with the others sneaking the cash back without their children noticing. With only one in seven adding interest to the amount they borrowed i guess it’s cheaper than going to the bank!

So who are the worst offenders?

The survey reveals that parents in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East of England and the South West of England are the most likely to raid their child’s piggy bank, while the kids’ cash is safest in London, Wales and the North west of England.

Go on, tell me – if you’re caught short of cash have you ever ‘borrowed’ some cash from your kid’s piggy bank or do you find it unthinkable? I’m keeping my mouth shut in case my children read this!

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