Why today’s children don’t understand the value of money

“A cashless society has left today’s children with no understanding of the value of real money — let alone where it actually comes from.

It is billed as the end of pocket money as we know it. O2, the mobile phone company, has got together with NatWest bank to produce a plastic card that parents can load with cash and children can use to spend on anything from sweets to shirts, computer games and cinema tickets.

Called Load & Go, the card is no more than an ordinary debit card — but its appearance is a sign of the changing times. For who uses old-fashioned money? And does the retreat of hard cash mean that children are growing up without any real concept of what money is, where it comes from, and how it is used and abused? There was a time, not so long ago, when the obligation to pay hard cash for school dinners, bus fares and weekly Brownie subs brought money into a child’s life gently and naturally. Now parents are more than likely to pay for these things by direct debit, and primary school children are much more likely to be ferried around by car than to take a bus. When public transport does become part of growing up, cashless Oyster cards are likely to give them their ticket to ride. When I was a young lad my mum gave me a couple of 2p coins for my secret inside pocket in case I needed to use a phone box. My 11-year-old daughter, in contrast, has a (cheap) mobile phone that I bought her, topped up with credits buzzed over from my branchless bank account”.

Source: The Times   07 Aug 09