We have always wanted our 9-year-old son to be financially literate and learn how to manage finances as early as possible. But somehow it did not work out to instill this skill in him. Firstly, in our city it is quite difficult to do this, because adults always go shopping, and at school all lunches are prepaid. And, secondly, the child quite often lost pocket money (like many teenagers). Therefore, we decided to engage in “learning” away from home, without using cash. We were just planning a trip to Altai with the whole family. We started reading and thinking about how to do it. Of all the options, we liked the Tinkoff Bank Junior card for children under 14 the most.

     

This is a debit card (only not a regular one, but a children's one), with which a child can make limited payments in a store or on the Internet. It is noteworthy that with the help of the Junior card you can buy only a certain list of goods. But to buy alcohol, cigarettes and other harmful products will not work! I also really liked the moment that all expenses on the children's account are fully controlled by the parents. That is, with the help of Internet banking, you can always check what, where and at what price our son bought. I also want to note that Junior is a cashback card. That is, when making purchases, the child can make some savings, and then he can count on them. This option suited us very well, so we decided to order a map.

We spent 15 minutes to issue the Junior card. We did everything on the Internet and ordered delivery. The card was just delivered to us a couple of days before departure. We solemnly handed it to our son and said that during the trip he would have a task: to buy sweets for himself in stores on his own.

We organized a trip to Altai on our own, without travel agencies, so upon arrival for a vacation, the child had a great opportunity to try himself as a buyer. Every time we went to the store and bought groceries, our son stood behind us in line as an individual customer and paid for his goods himself with a card at the terminal. By the way, the child also chose purchases himself (under our control, of course). And so it was all 14 days of rest.

My son really liked this practice. Do not worry, because in this case it is impossible to lose money. And the seller will not be mistaken with the change. For a couple of months now, the child has been happy to go to the store near the house on his own. But now not only for sweets, but also for bread, milk and other products useful for the family.