Do not fall for the trap Kwedit

As a child’s education money often commentator, I can always friends, family, colleagues and even reporters to count my rude behavior clues to teach lessons to ensure the error. The latest rage (which was brought to my attention by the CBS MoneyWatch’s Kathy Kristof and Dan Fletcher Time Magazine) is a new Web site called Kwedit.

“No credit card? No problem!” Advocacy website. Kwedit provides a “stunning new way to” play the numbers game for users to buy virtual goods in exchange for the promise to pay now after the user – with real money. And here’s the kicker: “ask someone to pay you a” Kwedit lets you pay in cash, or by

This is not a joke, although Stephen Colbert sent in to turn it into a classic machine Colbert report . Kwedit of “Kwedit Promise” feature is not suitable for children, site considerations; it is for adults and adolescents 13 years and older services. But 13-year-olds barely qualify as adults, and some games are biased in favor of young people. Who participated in the game, for example, is FooPets, it allows users to purchase virtual pets and electronic products, feed and care for them.

In my opinion, the real purpose of Kwedit is very easy for kids to spend money (or, worse, to borrow), but not with the board icing transactions in financial knowledge. “Considering Kwedit a secure environment, you can build you need to take care of your finances and credit in the future appropriate disciplinary, organizational and affordability,” Kwedit recommendations.

Even well-intentioned reporters fall into this trap. He wrote a “Kwedit is a way to an early understanding of credit, as well as training wheels.”

Kwipes! that the training wheels metaphor always makes me cringe. As I wrote many years ago, “is to let your child’s credit card, their young just like to let them use drugs early, so they will not become drug addicts.”

I am pleased to cool love Colbert guy I feel the need to weigh in this, so I do not soundLike an old fogy or a record-breaking (make that MP3). When it comes to teaching children money, I felt like a child is very important – and 13-year-old child is still a child. They do not tend to use a website such as Kwedit to “create money skills and discipline that is to be pulled ST rest of your life.” They will use it – they actually encourage the use of it – “passing duck” and get friends and relatives to pay.

For the children to learn how to manage credit wisely, the best way is to be responsible for buying the real thing with their own real money. Once they learn to pay the bills, rather than avoid them, they are ready to move on credit.