Should kids have credit cards

Firstly, kids have always carried around cash. Whether this is in the form of their pocket money, or in coins while they walk down to the corner store. So the idea of children not being able to understand the responsibility of money should not be underestimated. Children know about money, and the importance of saving. Just by giving them a credit card does not necessarily remove these values from their minds. They still know that a person has to work hard and save to be able to afford something. However, with the credit card, the children do get some form of credit, and this is the part which the parents should show responsibility and teach them the flow of money, and why just having credit does not mean they are any richer than before.

Will kids tend to spend more? This is the one factor which is against the case of children having credit cards. It is well known that having this additional credit does form an addictive nature in anyone spending. Without the proper guidance, children can easily develop an addiction to spending, and ultimately this is the goal for many of the credit card companies. It makes much more sense for children to only have debit cards, which have credit card like facilities, to allow them to spend with only their own money. This would be no different to them breaking open their piggy banks to retrieve their cash, to spend outside.

With so many products available at a better price online, giving children this freedom to use their own debit money makes good sense. They have to protection of the credit card company to fraud, and it will ultimately still teach them the good lesson of saving. Shopping online is much safer than riding down to the local shops to purchase an item. Sure there are many scam sites available online, but this will only teach them to be more vigilant with their online habits. A credit card for children is just another part of the human evolution, and in the long term, learning at an early age, is always better than learning at a later time in life.