by Sean Kelly

Created on: June 14, 2009

I voted no. Teenagers are not responsible enough to maintain a line of credit, or handle the burden of making payments on time. Children, which teenagers are, have enough pressure in their lives as is; adding something that will cripple you before you have a chance to spread your wings for the first time is not recommended. Granted, there are 18 year olds in college who can juggle the responsibilities of having a credit card, but what percentage do you think excessively abuses their card? I am willing to bet the vast majority of them. I would have been reckless if I had a credit card when I was a teenager; my sister certainly did.

Teenagers, like everyone else, but to a much higher degree, are susceptible to manipulation. Being a retail seller myself, and having the knowledge that the individual had a credit card, I could get them to max the card out within minutes. "No interest or payments for 12 months!" I would exclaim, knowing that it would ring bells in their young minds. Adults fall for the same persuasions, but not as likely as an 18-year-old girl whose friends all have i-Pod touches. I would, and could convince the young woman to shell out the $200+ for a nice 8GB i-Pod touch. I've done it before.

I am currently paying for my fiances mistakes made with a credit card. Everyone I have ever encountered in my life that has had a credit card in his or her teens are in debt. In debt before they have gotten married, had children, become homeowners, or better yet, before they have entered college. Consider the fact that 18-year-olds can enter casinos and it will paint you a terrifying picture. I was once a security guard in a casino, and watched as the young adults maxed out credit cards, spent their tuition, and then maxed out a loaned credit card from their parents. Then the parents get to clean up the mess their irresponsible child created, often citing that they never expected their little angel to do such things and be so immature.

It seems as though every generation is getting weaker and weaker. Being coddled, and carried along like a lost puppy. Unlike their parents, and older people, they haven't had to stand on their own two feet and work hard like the rest of us. They are given every advantage we never had, every excuse is used to console the fact they are belligerent and immature, more so than the children before them. In my community alone, since I graduated high school, the younger classes have racked up more MIP's than the last fifteen graduating classes combined. More reckless driving, more near fatal, and unfortunately, fatal car crashes. I babied my vehicles, because I had to start working when I was fourteen to buy one. Most kids are having them handed to them free of charge. Forget about working as well, it is not cool to work, I guess.

Allowing a generation who is not ready for adult decisions and responsibilities the access to credit cards, will not provide good results. For the parents reading this, can you actually afford to lose enough money to cover for your child? To get the hounding debt collectors to quit calling; most parents cannot even handle their child's texting addiction. The fact of the matter is children are not afraid of consequences, no matter how severe they may be. Think of when you were a young adult, and all of your friends were egging you on to do something, more than likely, you did it anyway ignoring the little person on your shoulder screaming in your ear to stop. It takes just one charismatic person to get your children to ruin their life before it even really starts.

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