While it is greatly convenient to let the kids have their own credit cards, more and more kids are becoming greatly indiscriminate when it comes to swiping their little plastic cards. The danger is usually very overlooked until it happens, by which time you can find yourself waist deep in credit card debt and your house full of useless junk.
As a parent, there are many ways for us to keep our kids from weighing heavily in our pockets. We could strip away their credit card access altogether and banish them to a friend-less, phone-less, Internet-less Amish existence. Although, there is an alternative that wouldn't end up with your kids hating you forever, and here are just a few of them.
Earning money can teach your child to appreciate it more. They tend to value money greater if they actually worked hard for it. If you have younger kids, try to give them some household responsibilities and reward them for a job well done. If your children are a little bit older, you can try letting them hold a job or start a business on their own, perhaps from their hobbies in Tennessee craft shows.
Tell them to save some of their money up. By telling them about saving a portion of their allowance or earnings up, you teach them discipline and responsibility. Sit down with your kid and discuss opening up a savings account. Show them how their money can increase due to interest from the bank. Or try to convince them about starting out a college fund which would greatly help them after high school.
Let them participate when you're handling the household budget. You can be a great example in showing responsibility when it comes to handling money and allowing them to see you at your budgeting best is probably a great way to lead by example. You can tell them all about the advantages of keeping a budget and how this greatly helps in keeping the household in order.
It's best to teach these things to our kids now, before they choke up our bank accounts with debt. Or you could just do away with their spending privileges, altogether. Whichever works.