No presents, please: How gift cards initiate children into the world of ‘credit’

Junk to you. Treasure to the child.

Every time you buy anything it is a financial contract. Including the 7yo spending buying a 50c zombie chew from the dairy.

I worked in a kids store for a while and there were some amazing kids who were so cautious about what they spent them on, working out purchases down to about 50c of the total. I have stopped getting the niece and nephew stuff, theyre old enough (8&9) to choose for themselves and they love a shopping trip without the younger sibling!

Maybe try raising your child how you feel fit and others will raise theres as they feel fit. If you dont want your kid to have gift cards.... dont let them. Its pretty simple.

There are no words to these claims other than I wouldve thought its up to parents to explain finance to their kids. Gift cards arent dangerous. In many ways they can actually represent savings for a purchase you really want. Lets say you have a $20 card but want a $100 item, thats $20 saved towards it. Its all about spin and perception.

Kids are not stupid. You give them a gift card worth $20 they know they have only $20 on it to spend. Go with your child when they want to use it. Cant see the problem here.

Everyone needs to learn about money at some point, perhaps if we start educating children they wont make the huge mistakes a lot of adults do with credit cards. The shock i this story for me was the amount if cards that are never cashed! Why? Prezzy cards can be used at the supermarket, store cards may be slightly more difficult but I put a reminder on my phone a month before expiry of any voucher/card etc to make sure I use it. Wasting money is ridiculous!

Good article. Hadnt really thought about a gift card being a â˜credit card. Developmental immaturity would explain the decision of a 5y old to spend $20 on a $1 worth item. Though I guess some of us dont progress with age either....

Id prefer to give kids time, love, sport, music, books, education, play with whatever is on hand and adventures... pretty much anything other than discretionary consumer goods. All that stuff we teach our kids to buy is just trinkets and baubles that serve as distractions, make you poor and end up gathering dust or in landfill.

Kids use them to buy junk. Or they dont get used.