... a credit card.
SouthFlorida.com: "Madonna gives $10k credit card to 8-year-old daughter"
The woman is brilliant as a self-promoter — I'll give her that much. As an artist? She had her moments. (Also she's married to a guy who made a movie that The Wife and I absolutely adore.) But Madonna as a financially-wise parent? Perhaps not so much.
I've kicked the idea of this around in my head a lot this evening, and I cannot come up with a good reason for anyone doing what Madonna's doing. I haven't fully fleshed-out my own stance on giving kids credit cards, or not yet, anyway. But eight years old? Is she serious? Isn't that like third grade or something?
Friends say Madonna hopes the exercise will teach Lourdes to appreciate the value of money.
I'd really like to know how this line of thinking works. Really. When your mom spends multimillions of bucks to build a religious center in London, I have to wonder where exactly the "appreciation for the value of money" plays in. Or maybe I'm way off-base:
Lotsa de Casha, the fifth and final installment in a series of children's books by Madonna, has been released. It tells the story of the richest man in the world, who loses everything but gains a friend. Written for readers ages 6 and up, Lotsa de Casha is described as 'a whimsical updating of the age-old truth that money can't buy happiness.'
Yes. And let's prove it to our elementary-school kids by giving them credit cards.
If nothing else, Madonna's kid will have good content for her class' next edition of Show 'n' Tell.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
School supplies: Safety scissors, Crayons (Big Box), and ...
— Posted by Michael @ 12:03 AM
3 Comments:
I don't know if giving a young child a credit card is such a bad idea, it all depends on how you govern its use. Right now, an 8 year old kid's wants aren't as extravagant as a teenager's so maybe the unlimited potential of a credit card isn't as dangerous if introduced at such an early age. Maybe she can be taught responsibility more easily now than later?
Ultimately though, it's Madonna and it's her kid and she's filthy rich. :)
Giving a credit card to an 8 year old? Unless the parent is prepared to pay for that card for the rest of the child's life, I wouldn't do it.
This is a ridiculous idea. Children need to learn the value of money. They need to know that the parents have had to struggle for the money that pays for their existence. Even if the parents are millionaires, they have had to work hard to make that money.
If a child does not see the value of money, it's going to ruin them for life. It's part of self esteem development. A child needs to develop self esteem. It can't be handed to them.
That's an interesting article for discussion.
For starters, where kids and credit cards are concerned, I am not in the camp that preaches abstinence. IMHO, credit cards are tools, and the ends to which they may be used are numerous. Guiding a teenager in the use of credit and plastic could be long-term beneficial, I think; conversely, dead-end assertions ("Don't ever use credit cards, Junior!") are silly and naive in today's world. Sooner or later, the consumption economy will get its hands on that kid, and s/he better be well-prepared.
Exactly what concepts an 8-year-old could grasp from this, though, I don't know. If the kid isn't yet "earning" money on her own, she isn't going to grasp the value of it, no matter what. (Trust fund earnings and such notwithstanding.)
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