My 14-year-old has a credit card. There. I’ve admitted it. Not only does he have the card, but he knows how to use it.
I know, I know. This is a controversial issue, but my husband and I are the type of parents that believe strongly in learning by immersion. We want our kids to learn to budget and handle finances wisely while we are around to monitor what’s going on. When Paypal offered its student account, we jumped on it, and so far, we haven’t regretted it.
The system worked beautifully with our almost-18-year old when we hooked him up with the Paypal student account several years ago. We saw everything he spent, and we could monitor the account to ensure that he never wiped out his actual bank account. It forced him to learn budgeting.
Now there is a website that reaches children even younger than my teens. Parents can teach 7-12-year-olds budgeting in a fun manner with Cha-Ching. You can use games and activities to teach your children about earning, spending and saving. It’s not ready yet, but an iPhone app is on its way to help your children budget allowance and earnings. The episodes are being broadcast on the Cartoon Network in seven markets (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) starting on the 9th of September of 2011.
Teaching children how to handle money wisely might be one of the greatest gifts we can offer them. I’m happy to know that society is addressing the money-saving issue with fun, practical tools.