Often, when a child reaches a
certain age, parents and guardians give them more responsibilities, authority and
luxuries. That is all right. In fact, every child should receive more responsibilities
as they age. They should also receive luxuries too. However, a frequently asked
question is should they give their children a credit card? Well, they shouldn’t!
There are so many factors to take into account when deciding whether your child
is right for a credit card or not. It all depends on the child but to
generalize things, I do not think that they should receive credit cards. For reasons
such as overspending, responsibility, and value. When parents make decisions,
they are usually more lenient towards options that would make children happy
and occasionally they forget what will happen when they do not take both
negative and positive options in consideration.
The excitements of getting a new toy
or treat, we have all felt it. Some people get giddy and unstable that they
forget what the object is really meant for. In this case, it is a credit card.
Many teens overlook the fact that it is for emergency use only. The first
mistake we make would most likely be overspending. Of course this is how you
learn. Some people have to hit their head against the wall 3 times to realize
it is hard. We do make mistakes though money is not meant to be played with. Teens
will find an opportunity to misuse the card before they can find “an emergency”
to use the card. Now this varies for every teenager. Some can be trusted (Ex:
Ana) and some, not so much (ex: me). Parents do not know what they are paying
for. They could look on their bill, but the damage has already been done.
There is the argument that credit
cards are great because of ability to carry a lot of money in a small card. It
is supposed to be safer than carrying cash. People however don’t realize that
credit card is also suppressing your realization that you spent that much
money. For example, $350.00. It’s just a number that appears on the screen but
if you have to pay that with cash, you realize that $350 is seven fifties,
almost eighteen twenties, thirty-five fives or seventy fives. That seems like a
lot of money. You realize that the credit card hides that. If you could physically
see the amount of money you give, it may save you some money the next time you
go shopping. Another reason to why cash may be preferable to credit cards is because
the parents actually know why their child needs the money (unless your child
decides to lie to you). But if your child is willing to look you straight in
the eye and lie to you for twenty dollars, then they are certainly not
trustworthy with a credit card.
The most important reason to why
teenagers should not have a credit card (paid by the parent/guardian) is
because when money is hidden in that card, teens may have classified it as
their own money. And one of the biggest travesties is when children do not
understand the value of money. They don’t work for money that they spend and
could easily abuse it because they never have experienced how difficult it is
to provide for others when there is no money. When they start working maybe
they could have their own credit card because when something is not just given
to you but you have to earn it the hard way, you respect it that much more.
I believe that children would
respect more the thing that parents provide (expensive shoes, clothing, cell
phones, etc.) if they had to earn the money by themselves. The above items,
just as the credit cards are luxuries and not necessities of life that parents
should provide. More love, more talk is what we need, not credit cards.
