We are starting to move towards living in a cashless society. I read the other day that only 9% of transactions will be cash based by 2030. I still want my kids to feel the value of cash though.
It’s hard to teach this with contactless. It’s hard as grown ups to feel money leaving out account when we just tap our card on a screen and wait for the beep.
Our eldest got £80 for his birthday. He wants a Lego set for £50, he’d been after it for ages and on his birthday he said he wanted to go and get it. So we did, but I insisted on him taking the cash with him so he could hand it over. It’s something he’s been given that he’s giving away to get the item he wants. If I had taken the £50 myself and used by card to buy the Lego, there’s no real lesson there. By him physically handing that cash over, I’m hoping it will help him in the long run.
So many kids I think will struggle with cash in this new contactless world. So many already think that you just put the card in the wall and get cash out. What will happen when they don’t even see that? Just see us using our cards or phones to buy things? It’s up to us as parents to instil this knowledge and respect for money, as hard as it is to do.
