But what you could do for them is get a prepaid credit card.  Prepaid credit cards are the best thing to teach your children about credit cards and the financial world in general.  If they have pocket money it’s a good idea to put it on their prepaid credit card and let them learn how to spend money on it like adults do.  The only difference is that they won’t be able to spend more than what’s on the card.

This can progress with your teenager when you think about it.  When they get their first job they may even continue to use the same format for their wages.  It’s much safer to carry a card on your person than to risk carrying around a load of cash, and with a credit card you can pay for goods and services without having to go to a machine to get out cash.

If your teenager learns to use a credit card from an early age (perhaps 13 is a good age) then they are much more likley to be responsible with a credit card when they become an adult; and let’s face it, many people could do with being a bit more responsible with credit couldn’t they?

The great thing about this kind of credit card is that you can only spend what has been pre loaded onto the card.  This is a great way to pay your kids pocket money and enable them to learn how to manage credit from a very early age.  Let’s face it, cash will probably be a swear word in the future or about as useful as a chocolate fireguard so the way forward must be to teach our children how to use credit responsibly.

By only having a certain amount on the credit card you’re kids will soon realise that just because they have plastic it doesn’t give them an endless supply of money and that it’s best to buy with the money you have already and not with money you’ll end up owing to someone else.  It isn’t just about being responsible with credit cards either because the average pre-paid credit card will also work in cash machines across the country and even abroad if they’re backed by someone like Mastercard.  The fact that you are enabled to get cash with it makes it perfect to pay your kids.  They can learn about managing their money by shopping with a credit card, and shopping with cash, and they’ll also learn that you can’t buy with what you don’t have.  This is often the best way to teach children about money because they feel like they’re learning themselves and that you are not telling them what to do.