Surely parents can just use their own debit card when the kid needs something that can’t be bought with cash? Special debit cards for kids seem to add unnecessary complexity (and opportunity for abuse) to the solution for a really simple problem.
Really? Mind if I ask where? As much as cash use has dwindled here in the UK (at least anecdotally) I’ve never come across a store that won’t accept cash. I know a couple that didn’t accept it early in the pandemic (due to fear of covid spreading on cash) but that didn’t last long.
Why would that matter to this discussion? I want x from retailer y. Retailer y doesn't accept cash. I use a card. If you have an objection to using cards, you're certainly free to decline to make the purchase. Nothing in any of that seems like it would be age related either. What's the difference between having $20, or a debit card linked to an account with $20?
I'm sure there are plenty, albeit not exactly the same thing. The question asked for a specific existence proof for a retailer that didn't take cash and I provided it.
In my village in the UK about half the coffee shops and bakeries and things were going cashless just before the pandemic anyway. I think it’s pretty common now.
Genuinely really surprised at that! Particularly in a village - I’d have thought smaller places would be the last holdouts, not the first to go cashless.
Sure, you can give them cash. If the parents aren’t around (e.g. they’re with a babysitter)…they can wait until the parents are around to give them cash.
But then they might learn how to make a buying decision based on its impact on some long term balance, not just based on "is the money available now: yes/no".
Sounds good, but at the same time they'll miss out on quite a bit of learning that almost everything (that a child might want) can be had if only they beg/negotiate/throw a fit hard enough. Life gives me the impression that in a ruthless-takes-all world the negotiation skills taught by the latter have far more impact than the being reasonable about money skills taught by the former.
I think cash is good alternative. No data collection, no surprises, just learn to count the chance you receive back and you're good. The problem I have with cards is that money is less tangible and it is easier for kids to learn the value of money by handling coins and paper. But surely, I agree with others that this method of payment will become obsolete.
1. Not “gatekeeping” their decision. They just might have to wait a few hours before they can carry it out.
2. I’m not sure of your point here. I meant if the parent wasn’t around to provide the cash the kid might have to wait until they are around. Not that they need someone to take them to the store (although this is highly dependent on where you live and the age of the kid).
1. If they have to get me for each buy, I have power to gatekeep. And they need to report to me every buy by design. It is clearly not the same thing, it is clearly less practical.
It is completely different then having own money - which in fact allow all of us to pay when we want what we want as long as we have money.
Nobody is saying kids will die if they dont have own card. They wont die if they dont have books or toy cars either. But it makes perfect sense for familly to want those things, no matter how much people yell on clouds about kids not living as if it was 1836.
2. The point was to respond to babysitter assumption to make clear what I mean .
I'm struggling to help my kids (teen through < 10) understand the value representation of money. It helps to covet a physical item, even if it's just a piece of plastic/paper. Money is hard to undestand when you don't work like a dog to earn very little of it, so this is even harder for kids.
My kids got this through pocket money and being or not being able to buy stuff. "I need 6$ to buy that and have only 3$" is how they got it. We moved on virtual money fairly fast.
> Money is hard to undestand when you don't work like a dog to earn very little of it, so this is even harder for kids.
It is not? If you role model financial decisions in front of them where they see, they pick yout habits.
9 year olds going to the store by thrmselves? In some locations you would be locked up for that. Leaving a 9 year old at home alone would also fall under those rules/laws.
Surely parents can just use their own debit card when the kid needs something that can’t be bought with cash? Special debit cards for kids seem to add unnecessary complexity (and opportunity for abuse) to the solution for a really simple problem.