Teaching your son or daughter how to manage money is an increasingly important aspect of good parenting, and if you choose the right kind of credit card you can get some help from your card company. That’s because many credit card issuers offer special products in the form of credit cards that have built-in parental controls.
 
You get the peace of mind and confidence of knowing that you child will not be able to misuse or abuse the card – which could destroy your own credit rating and create havoc. You also get help teaching your kids how to use a credit card in the grown-up world of modern finance and commerce. They can learn safely and securely, because even if they accidentally slip up and make an innocent mistake – like going over their spending limit – the automatic card controls will kick in and save the day.

These cards put the son or daughter on your own credit card account as another card user or cardholder, which makes it easy for them to get a card even if they are still too young to have a credit history or good credit score. But since you are being exposed to liability by having them on your account, the credit card features also offer various types of protection. You can set the limit for how much the kid is able to withdraw at one time, for example, from an ATM machine. If they go to the ATM and your imposed limit is $25 per day and they try to withdraw more than that, the transaction will be blocked.
 
But you can also sign up for e-mail alerts, which are super-cool. Let’s say your child has a spending limit of $100 but they try to get access to $150. You will get an email within 24 hours telling you all about it. If they try to use the credit card in designated places that are inappropriate, you can also get notifications about that kind of behavior. Your son who is 17 tries to use the card to rent a car, a hotel room, or pay to get into a place where only adults are allowed and not only is his card usage stopped but you get notified. Your daughter tries to use the credit card in a restaurant to buy alcohol – even though she is under age – and you find out with a convenient e-mail. The features vary from card to card, and you can choose among those that offered to set your own menu of preferences.

So instead of being afraid to let your child have a credit card, take advantage of these great features to train your child to be a more responsible and savvy consumer. It is a lesson that will reward them for the rest of their lives.