5 of 84

No

Write now Article Tools

Teens should not have credit cards unless they have the ability to pay off the balance when they are due.

Unrestrained credit does not teach responsibility or money management; it encourages bad spending habits while discouraging financial planning. Parents who provide their children with credit cards are shirking their responsibility to provide mentoring in the most important area of development making adult decisions on what is, and what is not, important, when considering a purchase.

A debit card at would encourage at least some level of planning, as there would be a limit to what the teen could expend. This would be more in line with learning the skills necessary to manage a traditional savings account. Parents could then set up benchmarks and tasks that would reward achievements, and the acceptance and completion of tasks, with additional funds being put into the debit card account.

But in our credit happy and quick fix society more and more parents would rather not be bothered taking responsibility and teaching their children valuable skills. If they can throw money at the problem, or a credit card that they can pay latter, they are happy as they think it absolves them from having to care enough to say no. Unfortunately this selfish, self centered attitude generally comes home to roost when their children, due to a lack of proper role modeling and teaching, become unable to deal with the challenge of life without Mommy and Daddy's bank account behind them.

For these reasons, and many more, I think credit cards for teens are a bad idea, and should be discouraged.

Learn more about this author, Rob O'Hannon.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Should teens have credit cards??
We want to hear your view. Write now!