How old do you have to be to know that cash transactions are a thing?

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PH_PIT@reddit

Is this the future?

No the future is a world without cash at all.

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DoctorWhofan789eywim@reddit

I don't like to judge too harshly but if your kid got to 13 without knowing what cash is or how it works that's entirely on you.

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danken000@reddit

I love how this entire thread is just people telling OP that he's responsible for parenting his kid.

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The cash thing seems minor but I think this actually reflects a much larger issue right now. People genuinely don't seem to be capable of realising that their children are a blank canvas and they do not know things unless you teach them. Things like manners.

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jiggjuggj0gg@reddit

The number of ridiculous everyday life skills that people genuinely think should be taught in schools because parents can’t be arsed is getting longer by the day.

The other day I saw someone saying children should be taught how to catch a bus at school.

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FeedFrequent1334@reddit

Tbf, it's quite possible some of those parents don't know how to catch a public bus either, and another sizable portion will see public busses as beneath them so will refuse to use them.

I genuinely worked with a guy who, in his late 20's didn't know how to get the bus. No clue what to say to the driver when boarding, the etiquette for getting off at his stop, none of it. I genuinely had to explain to him what to do.

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OldGodsAndNew@reddit

that's still not the school's problem

I didn't know how to go to a barber until I was 19-odd cos my mum always cut my hair at home. Managed to figure that out without a fucking class on it

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You can negotiate anything anywhere. Be prepared for nos, it also for surprises. The key is how you approach it.

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KungenBob@reddit

I got actual unlimited data because the salesman gave up on upselling contract when I just wanted one month increased. There was a queue, he wasn’t going to get commission and it was the quickest way of getting rid of me.

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Prior_Garlic_8710@reddit

It's amazing what they will do when you call and talk to them!!

My ee one is unlimited, but somehow the person on the phone in some convoluted manner (me and my dad were speaking for ages [my phone deal, but I was too young to do it alone], I barely) the three of us [mainly the phone person, I think it was half luck, half situation talk through] made it cost less than limited deals overall.

I still have it now, its got a weird sign thing but its been a few years now and theres been no trouble with whatever they did.

Moral is always call and be kind - but in a certain kindness way, like not the timid nice way, the genuine way? It works for a whooollle load of situations, we're all human

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SignificantAssociate@reddit

You dad sounds great!

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FeedFrequent1334@reddit

that's still not the schools problem.

I didn't say it was.

I didn't know how to go to a barber until I was 19-odd cos my mum cut my hair at home my entire childhood. Managed to figure that out without a fucking class on it.

To be fair, I’m in my mid 30s now and haven’t used a bus since I was 18 until recently. They have changed a great deal in the time I haven’t been on one. You can use contactless now, in my area, the tickets have changed, so instead of getting a single or return, they do day passes or Lancashire passes for any bus, the bus talks to you to tell you what the stops are, they have WiFi, they have usb ports and less bells and often change the route. I was a bit confused by it all, but I managed in the end!

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Successful-Bar-8173@reddit

I had to explain it to my uncle in 70s.

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mr-mobius@reddit

Part of life growing up in rural places with little public transport was being on a bus very rarely. Everyone used cars as it was more convenient. Visiting a city with decent transport options is an experience.

I'm still a functional adult though with manners so worked it out by common sense. I'm glad thought that Google maps can direct me through the London underground as I wouldn't have had a clue about lines and stops.

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ParkerR666@reddit

The first time I caught the bus I got on when it arrived, I didn’t realise etiquette was to wait for everyone to get off first. Obviously I would have stepped off for a buggy/wheelchair etc but it wasn’t the case and there was plenty of room. The driver just 100% ignored me staring straight ahead when I asked for my destination and I’ve never felt like such a pariah in my life lol.

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Aeoyiau@reddit

Im 37 and have no idea what to do with a public bus. I rode the school bus but thats different. I also live somewhere with little to no public transportation.

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jayphelps57@reddit

I love my bus pass! Go anywhere! All the timetables Available on your phone. Other older people very happy to help you make sense of bus travel ( I had no idea what to do at first but love it now)

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Yes totally regional! I was comparing my northern town, Manchester and London with some of those.

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CraftBeerFomo@reddit

And it's almost like you can figure these really simple things out on the go really easily by asking a few questions to the driver or doing some basic research before boarding, local bus services have Apps and websites these days.

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Crankyyounglady@reddit

I think your reading comprehension needs a little help. I wasn’t saying I couldn’t figure out these things, as I have many times in many places all over this country and others.

I was saying for those who haven’t used it before (such as adults whose parents didn’t show them), the many different processes and procedures could be confusing or a barrier for them. Especially as people getting onto a bus and the driver are often expecting people to get it going quickly.

Ahh thank you for your sound advice.

My dad was a geography teacher, one of the more interesting stories he told was a girl in his class who asked "sir, do foreign people think in English but then talk in their language?"

Which, while it's very funny to laugh about, is quite interesting how difficult it is to think about how another culture thinks and sees the world, and how weird understanding languages as a concept is, and how it has to be taught (and learned which this poor girl clearly did not do).

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darthicerzoso@reddit

Some American girl heard you could go to Amsterdam by train, came to ask me if she could do it as a day trip and where abouts in the UK it was. Was shocked when I explained she should get a place to stay there if she decides to go and that it's not actually the UK although you can get a train.

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FeedFrequent1334@reddit

"Excuse me, could you ask the pilot if he'll just let me off here? My house is right over there but the airport is 120 miles away?"

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hasimirrossi@reddit

Parachutes are by the door.

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o-willow@reddit

This thread has been really interesting food for thought. Honestly, I assumed that only very overbearing parents explained general culture type of things like this, but now I'm wondering if it's just my parents who were different.

I signed up for my first library card on my own when I was 8 (supervised by a grandparent who didn't speak English). I figured out how to take public buses on my own too and learned when and how to flag down a bus by seeing others do it. I learned how to go to the shops, use ATM machines, and a lot of other things without my parents.

It's not like I'm that old either. I find it really surprising how some kids can't do any of this though. Is it really all on the parents? Or is it because of the individual kids too?

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lazylazylazyperson@reddit

I’m a boomer and am uncomfortable using buses. Not because they’re beneath me but because I’ve never had much experience using them. Trains, commuter and otherwise, are a different story. I’ve easily and comfortably used trains in the US, Europe, and Asia. Just depends on one’s life experience.

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CraftBeerFomo@reddit

So you can easily get on a train in a foreign country at the other side of the world where you likely don't speak the language but you can't get on a bus at home?

My 30yo colleage is from a very well to do family. When she missed her stop on the train, I had to walk her through which bus to get, how to get on the bus, how to get off the bus, and how to get from the bus stop to the office. I had to be on teams to her the whole time.

I looked it all up on Google maps and told her to get the 70 and get off at (let's say) Kingston bus station which gets to her stop in 10 minutes. 5 minutes into her waiting for the bus, she said "can I get the 65? It says on the front it goes to Kingston?" turns out two 65s had already been and gone but because it wasn't the 70, she didn't get on.

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FeedFrequent1334@reddit

Some of the most sheltered people I've ever met came from wealthy families, but the worst offenders tend to be the offspring of wannabe "social-climber" parents. Not saying they're bad people, just tend to be lacking in some social skills.

Huge eye-opener for me was realising that the working class have way more in common (socially, rather than financially) with people who are wealthy to the point of having "fuck it, I'm going off grid to live on a canal boat and handweave jumpers knitted entirely from my pubic hair for a year or two while my butler tends the estate" kinda money. Both extremes seem to encourages a similar level of comfortable eccentricity that a lot of the aspiring middle class seem completely devoid of.

Dunno what any of that has to do with busses tbh. I just went off on one and ran with it.

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GreenCup3426@reddit

I think you're bang on.

A good way to illustrate this, I think, is the phenomenon of staying in one's pyjamas all day. If you're working class it's fine, if you're eccentrically wealthy it's fine, but if you're aspiring middle class then it's absolutely unthinkable.

I read a really interesting take on this only the other day. Some 50-odd years ago or thenabouts, 94% of children were toilet-trained by the age of 18 months. Now, the AVERAGE age is something like 3 1/2 years. The main reason seems to be that disposable nappies or so damned good, they interrupt the signalling process for the child, there’s nothing to link the child’s perception of needing a wee with wetting themselves being uncomfortable and therefore there’s not much reason for the child to WANT to get out of nappies.

Now, that on it’s own probably sounds like a bit of just parent-bashing, but he went on to talk about how this was a much wider thing, how as a society we’ve engineered out a lot of things that are uncomfortable in the moment, but stops us from really experiencing in the long run. Things like just accepting being bored occasionally, we’ve all just got our phones for instant gratification - when I was a kid my mum used to just laugh and say boredom was good for the imagination (and she was right!). We’ve got constant podcasts and music available, so miss just sitting and listening to nature. Children don’t get to experience small bits of discomfort because as a society we’ve engineered it away - so they’re missing out on basically practicing uncomfortable emotions in low-stakes situations - and then adults blame them for not being resilient. Well duh! When were they going to learn it?

Anyway, am going to get off my soap-box and go back to to weeding the garden now ;)

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Alouema2@reddit

This story has been coming out on a regular basis since pre covid though, I'd be sceptical. People also assume that your GP would investigate but often they like to wait until a child is 5, often already in school. ERIC charity website is fab for anyone who's child has bladder/bowel issues and has resources for schools & nurseries.

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DilemmaPenguin@reddit

My kids 13 now and we were in Scotland but the not knowing how to use the toilet was a massive problem when he was in nursery.

There was even one parent whose kid was still peeing himself in primary 1 and she complained to me at the school gate that she was having to come into school and change her son. Apparently the school refused to do it and said she needs to teach him and/ or get him a medical check up. Colour me surprised at the schools response 🙄

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FOARP@reddit

If you look at what people are being told about potty training it’s (a bit) more understandable: modern parenting advice is full of absolutely no sense about not doing potty training until ridiculously late and/or basically only doing it if the child wants to do it.

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thelivsterette1@reddit

That's wild My almost 5 yr old half brother, who was a lockdown baby (apparently COVID is where quite a bit of the regression comes from) will occasionally wear a pull up to bed (cos he still has a bottle of cows milk at night and I think he's a bit of a deep sleeper. And also bladder variation at that age is normal and Google tells me nighttime dryness is a hormonal thing that can take til like 5, 6 or even 7 to develop ) but 4 year olds still being in nappies/pull ups during the day??

Crazy.

I mean I have a couple hazy memories of my first year or so at school (so like age 4-5) and having had an accident and was given fresh underwear from the school's lost and found (bladder variation at that age is normal) but teachers should not have to do things like wiping a kid's arse and helping them get dressed etc regularly.

I know there will be some exceptions (like less autistic children are toilet trailed. Which in part can be due to interoception issues making it harder to know when they actually need to go to the toilet, potentially knowing but struggling to communicate it etc) but a quarter of school kids?

I got chatGPT to run the numbers and it says given data about 40-70% of school starters with toileting issues likely have some developmental / neurodevelopmental / regulation-related factor contributing (inc autism, ADHD, language delay, sensory issues, etc)

Even so, 40-70% still means out of every 100 school kids, 30-60 don't have these issues (although apparently constipation, resulting in fear of using the toilet, quite common at this age)

Which to me is kinda mind blowing

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TheCannonestMunkii@reddit

Yeah I'm in the UK.....that's insane ..

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nick_gadget@reddit

Some of this is medical, though a symptom of a different issue. Chronic constipation is really common (like 25%+), which leads to not getting the feeling of needing to go to the toilet and, counterintuitively, diarrhoea.

The cause of constipation is dietary - not eating proper food that needs chewing, not enough vegetables, not drinking enough, and sitting around instead of running about playing

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Asher-D@reddit

The only scenario I can think of (outside of extreme neglect/abuse) is a child with a disability. Either vulnerable kids are being slipped through the system and aren't being helped and removed from the abusive/neglectful care or people are seriously being judgemental towards parents of disabled children.

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TheCannonestMunkii@reddit

That's an absolutely fair point. I made the assumption we're talking about kids without disabilities.

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ceelo_purple@reddit

You know that thing where kids who need glasses aren't diagnosed until they start school and struggle to read from the board?

You see that with other stuff too: speech, toileting, socialisation. All those issues can be caused by neglect, but also by an undiagnosed disability that was previously chalked up to them being a late bloomer.

A_Roll_of_the_Dice@reddit

fitting in all the "life skills" people want taught would mean cutting out huge chunks or potentially whole subjects.

Nah. There's an easy solution, though many won't like it: during the "summer term" (April-July), once a week, there's an extra 30- or 40-minute lesson dedicated to different life skills. It does mean school would finish later one day a week during those months, but it would give a lot of really valuable educational time over the course of their entire school life. With it being spread out so much, though, it would barely have any direct time cost impact in the moment.

They can teach things like how credit scores work (and how to build/maintain one), why pension planning is important and how to do it, how to identify, practice, and utilise transferrable skillsets, how to interview, how to make and balance a budget, and a hundred other really important things that, honestly, far too many adults don't have a clue about.

I think a lot of parents are completely lacking in very basic teaching skills.

For example, recently I witnessed a parent and child, where the child was trying to solve an arithmetic problem, but apparently kept getting it wrong. Instead of explaining where she was going wrong, her mother shouted at her and told her how stupid she was. That poor little girl probably now has low self esteem and a fear of numbers.

Another problem is that far too often you see parents who are engrossed with their mobile phones and completely ignoring their children. This all leads to problems further down the line.

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Apsalar28@reddit

I take my godkids out for public transport lessons as their parents are clueless especially when it comes to dealing with the local bus service where there are three different types of ticket, one for each bus company and one that works for both and a whole load of different bus routes that can all get you to the same place eventually but one takes 20 minutes and the other one takes 50.

Now they're ok with buses we're working on trains and the quirks of the ticketing system, how to handle your train being cancelled and all the other common issues.

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Past-Obligation1930@reddit

In fairness, we did that with the kids, but we DID have a lesson on reading a bus timetable when I was at school 40 years ago.

Mind you, we didn’t have the internet then, so I’m guessing “stuff to teach ten year olds” was a shorter list.

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Crankyyounglady@reddit

I was with my 5 year old and 2 year old at Tesco showing my 5 year old how to look at the price per kg to get a better deal. And I showed my 2 year old how to scan the products as we shopped.

An older man mentioned to me “must be a teacher on Easter break”

And he was right hah!

But I totally agree with you, parents need to break down all the skills kids need to know before leaving your house and start doing them all the time! It builds confidence too.

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Honey-badger101@reddit

Its insane that some parents dont do this! I was talking to a friend who home schools and was hyping up their trip to a museum.....I thought this was odd as its just something we would do at a weekend....you know to supplement schooling!?

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Educational_Ad2737@reddit

As the children of 1st gen immigrants it actually annoys me stupid kids are these days . Evey single life skill shouldn’t need 10 week tutorial. I taught my mum how take the bus not he other way around guess what else no one taught me either

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thesirblondie@reddit

The problem with relying on parents is that some people are really bad ones. OP is just an idiot, but there's plenty of parents out there that just don't care.

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UmaUmaNeigh@reddit

The number of ridiculous everyday life skills that people genuinely think should be taught in schools because parents can’t be arsed is getting longer by the day.

We should just go Brave New World and have the government raise all children.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/s/ntbhMHtL11

At some point, according to another comment. 🤷🏻‍♂️

News to me, though.

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chocklityclair@reddit

We now have to teach kids how to use cutlery, apparently. And parents send their children to school (school, not nursery) in nappies, expecting the teachers to toilet train 4 year olds.

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Delldax@reddit

Tbf I remember in primary school when a bus came round to the car park and each class took turns to board the bus and we were all taught the etiquette and process for getting on a bus.

I think we were in y2

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eekamouse4@reddit

There’s no problem with kids getting on the bus here in Scotland they all get a Young Scotcard that gives them free access until they’re 22. Buses are now full of teenagers & pensioners.

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SpeechWeird5267@reddit

I don't necessarily think it is all about laziness.. It can be forgotten privileges and possibly a broken system.

Parents are dropping off their kids to school rather than possibly walk- why? The parents have to go to work next and they're stuck in a cycle of perpetuity. It is forgotten that there are other ways to go.

Common sense is not so common. 🤷‍♂️

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fishter_uk@reddit

They're too busy driving them to McD to have time to take a bus.

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Master_Sympathy_754@reddit

Surely the kids had spending money before, from relatives and things, all my grandkids are all to aware what money is, in fact the 9yr old was saying she wished she never bothered getting a card as cash is easier.

The 4 year old knows what it is, he'll knick your change any chance he gets.

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HomelanderApologist@reddit

I’m confused how he is 13 and never in his life gone to a shop and bought something himself(since he has no bank account)

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rositree@reddit

"I've done it the normal way, no apps involved."

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oil_beef_hooked@reddit

But it didn't need data or wifi as the kid thought.

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SoupieLC@reddit

I had no idea how much is imprinted on a child till I had my own, they see, hear and absorb everything

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floss147@reddit

Yeah, like my youngest picking up the B word when my eldest went on a rant about her head of year… we didn’t realise she had absorbed it under she called another 2 year old it in nursery.

Dull_Banana5349@reddit

Yep. I agree. And I fully own that there are some things my kids didn't/don't know how to do until way past when they should have. My son was 8 when the world went into lockdown, a few weeks in we realised he didn't know the order of the days of the week. In hindsight he's autistic and he just wasn't interested as he didn't think it was relevant, but the lack of routine really highlighted it. We spent months teaching him.... We're still working on the months of the year. He does finally know his date of birth now though. There's no learning disability, he's ridiculously intelligent, but if he's not interested he makes no effort to learn.

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Which-World-6533@reddit

TBH I have to tell adults this as well. If someone knows something that does not mean I automatically know about something as well. It's a good idea to tell people things, especially if that information is important to meet up or do their job.

A lot of people think that psychic abilities are real.

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Educational_Ad2737@reddit

Nah i can’t blame the parents for nto teaching kids about cash. It’s one for hairs things you just knew in the last thousands of years before now . But they’re kid is erm not that bright

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nicskoll@reddit

I work with parents and children and youre 100% correct!

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SaabAero93Ttid@reddit

This is piffle, borne of naivety and a little bit of arrogance, a teenager who lives in modernity who has any concern about bits of metal and paper as money has LESS understanding of money than one who knows it's just some numbers on a computer somewhere.

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Jassida@reddit

Yes. My hatred of gambling was burned into me from an early age.

Politics were a different matter.

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They are

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marli3@reddit

My mum used to give the kids 10ers and 20s. Took me forever to get her to give them coins so they could spend and understand the value.

More isnt always better

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Dry-Satisfaction-633@reddit

Apples rarely fall far from the tree…

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I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS@reddit

Lol 'how old do you have to be' as if the knowledge magically appears in one's brain on a certain birthday.

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hungrybuniker@reddit

I think a few parents need to hear it tbh. Worked in a shoe shop for a loooong time. The amount of "he doesn't know how to tie his laces! He's eight!" I heard was unbelievable. Speaking as if I was insane when the average age most kids seemed to be able to do them was around 5/6yo.

I can't post gifs but

[Captain America walks in, sits the wrong way round on a chair and leans on the back in a "hello fellow kids" manner à la whichever Spider-Man film it is]

"So, this comment section isn't going thr way you were expecting"

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One_Complex6429@reddit

They are, aren't they? Maybe we need to take the parents to the 1970s and show them how it's done..

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MathematicianSad8487@reddit

When my kid was 13 knew she needed to use cash to buy vapes so we didn't know. She tried to sell them in school for a profit but got caught and almost expelled. Cash was from grandma. She's 16 now and wiser . Don't judge please .

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Red-Oak-Tree@reddit

Its the first thing that came to my mind. No parent is perfect obviously but we have all been stuck behind the parent giving their child £5 to pay for something and ask for change and the child is usually about 7. It doesnt mean OP is a bad parent...we all made mistakes with our kids and this isnt a big issue its just a little surprising.

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SaabAero93Ttid@reddit

I don't love it at all, I think it's pathetic response from arrogant people try to score in some way, cringe..

he obviously knows that he is responsible for parenting his kind and was telling an interesting story / insight into the youth of today.

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StrangerOk1831@reddit

No, my 11 yr old has been paying in shops with me since she was at least 7. She enjoys taking cash to the till. It's a lifeskill. That dad failed his kid.

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So?! There are probably lots of things you don’t know how to do at 55 or however old you are

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deathmetalbestmetal@reddit

This is gibberish though isn’t it. There are many things I cannot do at 35, but none of them on the level of not knowing you can exchange physical money for goods - which is insane. This would be mundane knowledge to my six year old.

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hotpotatpo@reddit

No, it’s insane that you refuse to acknowledge that certain things become obsolete as time goes on. I NEVER use cash, most of the time I don’t have any.

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FluteGunner@reddit

I think it’s also on the kid. You would learn something like that without being told by seeing it happen.

There’s no way a 13 year old has never seen a tv show/movie where someone pays in cash, or seen it in person, or even seen a “cash only” sign at a self checkout.

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BsyFcsin@reddit

There’s definitely a case of children (mostly boys) who are so oblivious of the world around them. My sons need everything explained to them whilst my daughter watches everything we do and has learned that way without us needing to explain a thing.

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AttemptImpossible111@reddit

Its entirely on the kid.

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asmiggs@reddit

Kids can be a bit dense at times but fundamentally by the time they're 13 they should have already paid for something with cash. For the first few years while they're buying a few sweets and stuff with their pocket money give them a piggy bank and pay them directly in cash and then at 11 teach them about plastic money not the other way round. If nothing else by the time they are managing their own money payment methods might change.

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They don't watch 'TV'

But they watch stuff on YouTube and on streaming services. They still watch shows and those still show cash transactions.

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SaabAero93Ttid@reddit

No they don't.

I am not American I am in the UK.

You are talking about exceptions, teenagers today think / know that cash is only for few things.

You have it the wrong way round as regards the tills in Lidl, there are ones that only take card and ones that take BOTH cash and card.

It is absolutely understandable that a teenager would never use cash or really see anyone else using it. I myself haven't used any cash in years and find it a pain in the arse if I am ever given any or have to pay soemone in cash, tedious to have to go to bank to draw it out or pay it in.

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MissKoalaBag@reddit

In the probably thousands of movies or shows that exist. I mean, I know people like to joke about 'Ipad kids', but surely these kids aren't JUST watching, like baby shark a million times a day and literally nothing else. Thank God Balamory's coming back, the kids need it.

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eerst@reddit

Great idea, let's stop teaching kids because they'll just kinda figure it all out themselves.

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FluteGunner@reddit

That's not what I said or implied, but sure.

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super_sammie@reddit

I could shed some light on the TV issue. My child is 8 and maybe watched TV 10 times in their life.

Yes they consume other media but I’m not so sure they would have seen cash transactions, that’s on me to educate them.

The worry always was that credit and debit cards would further obscure the link between money and the transactional value.

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ok2888@reddit

I don't think it's a parenting issue, it makes complete sense that someone who's only been alive since 2012-13 might not be aware you can pay cash at the supermarket. The only things I use cash for now is to buy drugs or to pay for haircuts where I am also helping them to launder drug money.

I didn't know what a fax machine was until I was like 19, I don't think that made my parents bad (although they were shit).

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ILikeToRead_Posts@reddit

Yea absolutely this point. Like have they never even played games at home involving money? Given physical pocket money for chores? Demonstrated paying cash at the shops?

I wish people could still do things like this now! Someone would probably call social services on you if you sent your 5yo down the shops for groceries these days 🙄

I have fond memories of it...

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OneRefrigerator3586@reddit

I have a craft fair stall that caters to kids and I constantly get kids coming up to me with cash to buy stuff. Even kids as young as 2 and 3 will solemnly hand me a few pounds to pay for their item (and its cute AF).

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Gone_For_Lunch@reddit

I’ve found a lot of fun in giving my 3 year old a fiver at a car boot sale and watching her walk around and see what toys she can get with her coins. Started doing it when she was two. She enjoys it and learns about money at the same time.

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SaabAero93Ttid@reddit

That doesn't mean much about how he will be when he is a teenager I'm afraid

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I’ve seen a few, this generations “men” can’t do anything without watching a YouTube video on how to do it, from the same people that never taught the next generation how to do the things that their parents did. Parents need to parent, they’re the first teachers anyone ever has.

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cjnewbs@reddit

On one hand I agree, but also, on the other hand theres a bunch of stuff I figured out as a kid (can't remember specific events but do remember having "lightbulb moments" figuring stuff out for myself) that my parents didn't teach me. I don't know if maybe people's desire to investigate/question/research/read is dying but I was always trying to understand and learn about things I didn't know as a kid.

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darthicerzoso@reddit

To be honest I don't like when people say stuff like that. When we're kids we're really stupid. I can see how a child will see you paying cash repitedly, maybe you even explain what you're doing to them, and they get so used to it that it's something they don't perceive, maybe when you start giving them some cash you give them a card, they never shop anywhere which would deny a card and developed the silly idea you can't pay cash.

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KittyGrewAMoustache@reddit

Those toy machines take contactless payments now! Hardly anyone carries cash anymore I guess so they’d go out of business.

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super_sammie@reddit

Really? Everyone I’ve always seen needs 1 or 2 pound coins!

Spent what feels like a lifetime (2 years) buying super things

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FeedingTheBadWolf@reddit

Yeah and also trollies

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Informal-Intern-8672@reddit

Hahaha what is it with Chinese takeaways not taking card?

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super_sammie@reddit

If I’m in a new area and the Chinese takes card best believe I’m not eating there.

Same as a 5 star hygiene rating ! There’s a sweet spot between 3 and 4. You want some mouse but not too much.

Fried chicken shops need to be closer to two. I want to believe there’s a chance it may be pigeon.

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winebookscats@reddit

We just order on their app and they deliver. Not through Just Eat or the other ones, but direct with the restaurant. Same with a curry and even the chip shop.

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super_sammie@reddit

That’s not a real Chinese. You need a teenager serving you and two smaller children doing their homework under the counter.

Which-World-6533@reddit

Why is your kid sending stuff to Santa...?

Maybe more children should have this updated version of Father Xmas.

FYI Santa would like a bottle of vodka and some special white powder for Xmas, please.

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Yep! OP is like "why didn't anyone else educate my kid for me?"

parksa@reddit

Do kids not have toy shops any more? I used to love my play sweetshop and groceries with the till and money, would be sad if that's not a thing now. It's fun and teaches the practical skill of counting and money.

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Buddy-Matt@reddit

My kids do. A little till from IKEA and some fake plastic money.

Plus a whole bunch of my old cancelled credit and debit cards, because it is the 2020s :D

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PenGlittering799@reddit

Couldn’t have said it any better

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NibblyPig@reddit

idk I'm 3 times that age and the other day I was standing in town trying to work out how to get some pound coins, then I remembered you can take money out of an ATM

I felt like a fool until I went into TSB and asked to change the note I'd just taken out of THEIR atm for cash and they asked me if it was a forged note then said sorry they don't have any money (???)

Shitty piece of shit legacy banks, anyway I filed a formal complaint and they gave me some compo, pukka

At no point did his parents blame the kid. And they specifically have now gone to teach him.

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Previous-Ad7618@reddit

My 5 year old has had physical cash pocket money for a year. She's learned about keeping it safe, counting, saving, and interacting with shopkeepers.

That's absolutely irrelevant though. Even if she didn't; they don't have to have cash or even use cash to have an understanding of what it is and how it can be used.

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Evening-Tomatillo-47@reddit

I've had £30 in my wallet since December, I've used cash twice so far this year. It's getting rare now

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Mccobsta@reddit

My mum works at a sainsburys convenience near a school and yeah she's rather concerned with kids lack of money skills especially the older ones

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illiriam@reddit

Right? My 2 year old understands pound coins at the very least, and that when he gets one he gets to go pick out donuts from the Lidl bakery for himself and his brothers

How is a 13 year old this unaware?

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parksa@reddit

For real what is this post..."why hasn't somebody taught my child how money works?"

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d3gu@reddit

I misread the post and thought it was the cashier writing it.

It's the dad.

Do they not come food shopping with you? They've never seen anyone pay cash at a shop or pub?

Also - has he never watched TV/ movie or read a book?

theinspectorst@reddit

I have sympathy for OP here. Kids learn how to function in society from watching their parents. I don't think my parents ever deliberately 'taught' me how to pay with cash, I just learnt it from seeing them do it many times when I was little.

If a child had in turn followed me round for the last 13 years though, they would probably believe that the only things you can purchase with cash are car washes and haircuts. I don't know if my 3 year old nephew knows how to use cash, but he definitely knows what to do with a contactless payment card and has great fun when we let him be the one to pay in restaurants.

Sure, but that's not the same as real life experience. And how many hours are dedicated to them?

Our eldest is 5 and if we lived a bit closer to the shop and wouldn't have to cross the road I would have sent her for a bottle of milk or loaf of bread already.

We do live walking distance (10 minutes) but it's a bit too far to do by herself.

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Upset-Woodpecker-662@reddit

My oldest son started to go shopping on his own at 8 years old. Bread, milk, a treat etc...

At Age 4, learning to use a knife, cut simple things, helping to cook family meals.

Age 5, cycling on road with a parent

Age 6, being left at home alone for short periods (15 to 20 min). Learning to use oven and hob cooker.

Age 7, home alone for 30min. Cycling long distances on road with a parent. Learning more about safety, signals and road signing.

Age 9, going and coming back from school alone (because his school wouldn't allow it earlier). Either on bike or walking.

Now age 10, he takes the bus or bike on his own to his friends or his sport club. He also cook a family dinner on his own if I struggle time wise.

ChemistryLess5189@reddit

Is what the future? Parents teaching their children fuck all about life? Probably.

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UsedTinyPrincess@reddit

kids today really don’t get it

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Psychological_Pen200@reddit

Has he ever been outside ??

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Conscious-Ball8373@reddit (OP)

Yes? But we have operated basically cashlessly since probably about when he started primary school.

We live in a relatively rural setting and use card or google pay for just about everything. At some level it's not a surprise that he isn't very familiar with cash. Even when he's been given money for his birthday etc over the past few years, he's given it to us and we've made an equivalent transfer into his bank account.

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Several_Cold_7160@reddit

What Im curious about is hasnt any films/tv shows/cartoon depicted this cash transaction

[-]

Sounds like a You problem.

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Deepfriedcyanid3@reddit

"Why does my kid not know something they haven't experienced and I've never explained to them?"

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MC_Ziff@reddit

My 7 year old daughter saw a woman smoking a cigarette out her car window the other day and asked what she was doing - she had never saw someone smoke.. that sounds absolutely mad but I thought about it, no one in her family smokes, it’s not on TV or movies she would be watching and if she’s saw it before in the street she’s just obviously not clocked it!

It’s just a mad thought to me after growing up surrounded by it!

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KnittyMossBadger@reddit

No this is on the parents - did your kid never go to the corner shop and buy something with tooth fairy money or pocket money? It’s a parent’s job to ensure their kid is equipped with basic life skills and this really is basic.

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blahehblah@reddit

Knowing how physical money works seems a pretty fundamental skill for living in a capitalist society. This is like saying you could quite easily navigate life without learning to add or subtract because of calculators.

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The_Autarch@reddit

I think at this point you could quite easily navigate life never touching cash again. Or ever, if you're just being born.

as long as you never go to Japan. they're still absolutely obsessed with cash over there.

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Robinhoyo@reddit

Was in Japan a few months back, granted I was in Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka and not the countryside but I didn't use cash once and used my phone for everything.

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Crafty_Reflection410@reddit

Could easily never go to the beach or a pool either….doesnt mean kids shouldn’t learn how to swim.

Dependent_One6034@reddit

turned out the bank was doing an emergency maintenance or something like that.

honestly, it's more likely your partner had no money, or didn't want to spend any, offered to take his aunt shopping, or she took him. and he fully knew she would pay for his stuff if he just looked at the machine funny a few times. Must be a glitch. They happen all the time.

Carboots? Second hand items off Facebook?

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fuzzydunlop54321@reddit

You know I was about to say he’s 13 and you can’t have been paying for stuff on your phone for that long, but I last worked in retail 10 years ago and people were doing it then so. . . Damn.

Nah kids get given a couple of coins or a fiver etc. as a "buy yourself something nice" treat from family/friends, or get cash for Christmas, birthdays, Easter. They know what cash is.

xenobitex@reddit

Good for you. It's insane to claim the concept of money in exchange for goods is a "miniscule" part of real life; it's fundamental.

Imagine not knowing you can replace batteries, because you normally plug in a cable.

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TuMek3@reddit

It was fundamental, it’s not anymore. It’s like saying to a Mongolian “it’s fundamental that you can ride a horse, because it used to be so important”. When most of them can live perfectly normal lives without riding horses.

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xenobitex@reddit

I remember several recent occasions where card payments in shops aren't working. Don't believe anyone who says they "haven't used cash in 5 years".

CYBER ATTACK TAKES OUT BANKING SERVICES

torhysornottorhys@reddit

In 13 years you've never once given your kid money to practice buying something in a shop?

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ThunderBr0ther@reddit

I mean I can understand why a child would think that. If they were left to their own to figure it out.

Without guidance I can entirely see why one would believe this.

They called the situation insane, not the mother.

And she contributed 50% to it in the first place, even if she's now stepping up to rectify it after the fact.

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LegitimatePieMonster@reddit

And yet they managed to focus back in on the mother.

Don't you see where the problem is here?

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Shaper_pmp@reddit

No they didn't:

He's left mum to raise his kid alone and she can't do everything.

Seems kinda wild to purely blame the dad

The first comment completely absolved the mother of any blame.

The second comment you responded to just pointed out she still shared some of the responsibility.

Reading comprehension, yo.

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LegitimatePieMonster@reddit

And yet the woman, even though doing something about the problem instead of complaining to the internet, is still 50% to blame.

All wrapped it up with the term "insane". Because circling the conversation back to women and sprinkling in the term "insane" in the context of a woman's behaviour is... not at all dragging up an age old trope.

We're. Just. Sick. Of. It. All.

Misogyny, language, context etc. Yo.

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No_Salt1486@reddit

Have you got the painters in?

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MEaster@reddit

Meanwhile you're putting all fault on the father while assuming the mother could not possibly have done wrong. Misogyny and misandry all in one neat package!

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JFJF48@reddit

You're really shoe horning something in here. You don't HAVE to make everything that deep. I think instantly absolving one parent is wrong, either side. Of course the mother is still 50% to blame, why on Earth wouldn't she be, she's 50% of the parent... How can you justify it's one over the other except just shoe horning in misogyny and ending the argument there.

This thinking is why people are getting sick of overly virtuous people.

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blubbery-blumpkin@reddit

I appreciate the fight you’re trying to give, but this is not the battlefield.

The woman is 50% percent to blame because she is half of the parent unit. It doesn’t matter that she is fixing it, that doesn’t reduce blame. If I knock over someone in my car i am to blame, if I use my paramedic skills to help fix the problem it doesn’t make me less at fault. It is admirable though that she is trying to fix it, and it is dumb that dad is just complaining on the internet about it, however we don’t know any context here, he might not be able to drive or something so mum is taking the kid because she can. This is just an internet post after all and we don’t know anything other than the situation. Which leads us to the next thing. The situation is insane, not the woman. Not the man. The bad parenting is. Nobody is saying that the woman is insane, and anybody who actually read the thread properly will know that they meant whoever is in charge of this kid has failed them in this comment. That’s gender neutral, and not at all the use of a trope, tired or not.

This might be the most Redditor comment I’ve ever read. What an incredibly strange fucking thing to deduce. How do you get by interacting with other humans on a daily basis. The Reddit hivemind is insane.

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Mc_and_SP@reddit

Yeah, this was my thought too?

Has he never even had a maths question at school like 'Susan has £5 and wants to buy 2 chocolate bars...' they have drawings of the money.

It doesn't say 'Susan has £5 and needs to find a bank to deposit her money so she can use her bank card to buy 2 chocolate bars'

That's a parenting fail. I have children similar age, I also work with children similar age and younger, they all know how cash works

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Same-Artichoke-6267@reddit

Yes but it doesn’t say Susan had £5 cash money either. 🤣

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We used to withdraw money for pocket money until they had an account with a card and we now transfer

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St2Crank@reddit

You’re missing the point that you could organise yourself to have cash to give your kids pocket money. If then you didn’t have the cash, that’s you not being organised.

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tannercolin@reddit

Some of us don't have any cash. I have maybe two quid in shit coins in a jar that has been there for about five years. The only time I ever get cash out is when I buy weed, and even then I sometimes pay by paypal or bank transfer. I consider myself an organised person.

This post is somewhat baffling to me but the guy isn't disorganised for not having cash. It is still weird to me that a thirteen year old kid wouldn't understand the concept of cash though.

Profession-Unable@reddit

Money is definitely part of the maths curriculum and I’m almost certain there’s a calculating with coins question on every SATs paper in the last few years. I guess it’s possible that it was all an abstract concept for him but I’d be a little worried if this was my kid tbh.

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PurpleOctopus6789@reddit

so that's a failure on your part. A responsibile parent should teach a child how to use both, cash and card payments. Banks do have outages and you should not be surprised that your child doesn't know about cash transaction if you've never taught him. have you never even played monopoly ffs?

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Howthehelldoido@reddit

Just prepping him for the future. I have no idea the last time I actually used cash. Years ago likely.

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Iamthegreenheather@reddit

I'm just curious, do banks allow minors to have their own accounts with a debit card there?

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Menestee1@reddit

What

So he never saw cartoons or movies where they used physical money or no £1 cake sales in primary school?...

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bostaff04@reddit

Are parents even trying to parent these days???? Wdf

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GlassDescription2275@reddit

“Is this the future” they ask about the child they’re responsible for.

Your child being sheltered is on you. Not society.

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Rude_Trouble_4075@reddit

I’m sorry but did you miss out spending the tooth fairy money every time he lost his tooth?! Like, that exercise of spending money as a little child…

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EloquenceInScreaming@reddit

The National Curriculum says that at the age of six or seven...

"Pupils should be taught to:  recognise and use symbols for pounds (£) and pence (p); combine amounts to make a particular value  find different combinations of coins that equal the same amounts of money  solve simple problems in a practical context involving addition and subtraction of money of the same unit, including giving change"

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7da548ed915d2ac884cb07/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Mathematics_220714.pdf

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Conscious-Ball8373@reddit (OP)

He knows all that. The theory of how cash works is not the problem. The problem was just knowing that it was something he could use at Tesco.

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hotpotatpo@reddit

What in the boomer are these responses to you OP. They probably also think you should be teaching your child to send a fax and use a rotary phone.

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The_Autarch@reddit

OP is literally complaining that their kid doesn't know how to use cash in shops.

How is it strange when he asked why his own child didn't know this? In a public forum.

You assume we’ll be cashless, and that’s true in adults, but children still aren’t. In fact, children still very rarely have bank accounts until they’re teenagers, and will frequently buy sweets or similar with coins. Cash is still used very frequently, especially by children, and can’t be treated as though it’s gone.

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glasgowgeg@reddit

I’ll bet you can’t change a spark plug ? Tether a horse ?

Neither of these are even remotely similar to understanding that cash can be spent on goods and services.

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4321zxcvb@reddit

The are examples of technology that was surpassed. But that is obvious. Are you really that thick? ( to use language that is also surpassed)

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glasgowgeg@reddit

The are examples of technology that was surpassed.

Cash is still used regularly, unlike changing a spark plug or tethering a horse.

There were 2 billion cash payments made in the UK last year.

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punkfence@reddit

Odd bits are what cash is primarily used for. Big weekly shops are card territory.

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TikiTapas@reddit

Maybe for you but I very rarely use cash. In fact I don’t even really use a physical card as I pay for most things with my phone. And I’m 40 so imagine even more so for the youngsters. Even the 17year old we pay for baby sitting wants a bank transfer and not cash.

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The_Autarch@reddit

you really need to sit down and have a think about all of the topics that you've been neglecting to teach your child.

That's a parenting fail.

WashingTurds@reddit

I think we all get this is a parenting thing and OP will likely delete his account and cry in the car - well done to the posters who have never made a parenting mistake. The good news is it’s never too late for anyone to learn, and this kid learnt something today.

/highhorse

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xenobitex@reddit

13 years in, is a tragedy for this kid though. Some of us were earning cash at that age.

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WashingTurds@reddit

So was I but I’m not judge and jury so there’s that.

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Ebakthecat@reddit

Our parents never taught us to use cash did they?

Uh... Yes, they did.

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ChilternRailways@reddit

How? They actually sat you down and explained what and why cash is, and how to use it?

I don't think that's common mate - for most, it's something you pick up through observation and context, and TV - plus maths classes giving examples of change that normalise the idea.

This is the generation where that changes and it's quite interesting.

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FeedingTheBadWolf@reddit

No I think it's extremely common.

My parents definitely taught me. Not in one sit-down session as you suggest but over the course of my childhood. I would be shown physical money and taught how to pay for stuff, my parents would talk it through with me, we'd discuss not only HOW to buy stuff but also the value of money and how it could run out etc.

Then at a certain age (I think maybe 5) I was given physical pocket money and I could spend it on my own. My friends and I would do "yard sales" at the end of our driveways to sell our old toys etc and we would do that completely without our parents.

My parents did the grocery shopping and added everything up on the calculator as they went along and made sure they had enough money. From the age of about 8 I was allowed to input the calculator sums and would get a donut for my troubles.

This was not unusual among my peer group. Some of us (aged 8+) would pop 10 mins down the road to the corner shop and buy sweets and magazines with our pocket money and had to handle that all by ourselves.

On school trips out to museums or whatever we would all be given some pocket money for the shop.

And then there was the tuck shop at school. Did you not have that?

But we didn't just absorb or learn that by osmosis. Our parents literally told us stuff like "we hand over the money, this is his much jr costs, we get our change, this is a 50p coin, 50-45 is 5 so we get 5p change" etc etc.

I remember going on foreign holidays at age 8+ and being allowed to go to their version of "corner shops" on our own and having to work out how the foreign money worked. The cashiers gave us a bit of help but we understood the process.

I'm telling you if we had come across a 13yo who didn't understand any of the above he would have been ripped a new one

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Sorry, just seems like you're really reaching for a reason to judge people you've never met about a child's upbringing that you've never met, based on a single anecdote.

I hate the internet sometimes, how does this not strike you as kind of like, both confirming your own bias about things while failing to question your biases?

But nah just call them bad parents and move on, eugh.

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Indigo-Waterfall@reddit

You asked “what age should this be learned?” I answered your question in my professional experience and opinion.

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ChilternRailways@reddit

And your professional opinion means this child has been failed by their educators, not their parents, because you are an educator and this is in your syllabus, and if that's missed how exactly are they catching up until the situation arises? How many kids miss out on basic concepts at school because they miss one day?

Do you think I’m the original person you were replying to?

Nope, you entered the convo with your perspective as a teacher.

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Indigo-Waterfall@reddit

As I said, Im not a teacher…

I give up. In the morning, perhaps come back and read with a fresh head and a bit of distance and you will realise I’ve not once disagreed with you. I’ve merely answered your question. And for the record, no child is a “little fucker” as you so sweetly put it. I hope you feel better in the morning. Also, this is Reddit, it’s not that deep.

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ChilternRailways@reddit

no child is a little fucker

Incorrect, I'm a little fucker and I was a kid before.

Go back and read what you wrote, in context, as someone walking into a conversation, and ask yourself whether "hope that helps..." on top of the bad faith reading, is something you'd be proud of one of your smart kids saying, Vs engaging on the question of generational

You've repeatedly made this personal while evading and refusing to engage the presented points of substance (generational divide, division of labour between parent and teacher, expectations of knowledge that should come from one group Vs the other), instead focusing on irrelevancies like labelling children as "little fuckers".

It's actually deep, but you're being shallow.

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daveroo@reddit

i'm in my 40s and whenever i get given cash i give it to my mum (who loves physical money) and ask her to bank transfer me the money.

usern4m3czechzout@reddit

I work in a store in the UK and, particularly in school holidays or weekends, this is an everyday experience. We actually talked about it today because several kids in a short space of time just put down a fistfull of random change and had no idea if they had enough to cover their purchases or not.

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DKsan@reddit

Folks, I moved to the UK eight years ago and have probably used/handled cash maybe 50 times since then, mostly handed to me by my grandparents.

If you live in an environment where people around you are never using physical money, how do you know it’s a thing?

thorthorson16@reddit

I give my 3 year old and 5 year old cash all the time to go and pay for their own sweets/toys

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Busy-Shallot-5563@reddit

Why did you never tell him he can just use cash 😂

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unproblematic_name@reddit

My youngest child is 2. Even he knows you can use cash in shops.

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X0AN@reddit

Bad parents always look to blame other people.

How on earth have you not taught your child about money.

That's WILD.

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HistoryDisastrous493@reddit

Everyone focusing on the terrible parenting, but the kid also seems like a bit of a dumbass

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SpectralDinosaur@reddit

This isn't the future, this is just an embarassing failure of parenting on your behalf.

I have a niece that's 9. When she was a little younger she loved to play "shop" where she'd gather a bunch of things around the house and then pretend she was running a shop that we'd have to go in and haggle/buy things. She had a better understanding of economy and money transactions when she was almost half your son's age than your son seemingly does.

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cityfrm@reddit

Your child never saw or played with toy money and play shops? It's a very common, basic early childhood toy in homes, nurseries and schools. Have they been locked in a cupboard till yesterday? How else are you failing them?

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My 7 year old knows how to use cash. Try parenting.

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GrabbedByTheGhost@reddit

Again not wanting a judge too harshly because other people have mentioned it already but when these kids are growing up, you know when theyre four and five years old and you play shops with them, what happened there?

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Growling_Salmon@reddit

Dear lord

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No_Exercise_7545@reddit

If you haven't taught him then yeah it's absolutely possible he hasn't realised paying in cash is a thing. It's not as common as it was 10 or more years ago to pay in cash.

I went 4 years at university paying for things using my phone, never carried cards or cash. Contactless is everywhere these days and cash is becoming less common outside of say, paying gardeners or window cleaners or something (which a 13 year old wouldn't be doing). It's possible he hasn't even seen people use cash since most people seem to pay by card these days at supermarkets and such.

If you haven't showed or got him to use cash then yeah I can see how he wouldn't realise that's a possibility.

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justfinkin@reddit

My gen z sister travelled to japan on her own recently and didnt take any money with her. No cash, AND not even her card. Didn't even cross her mind that apple pay might not work. A kind couple bought her water, food and a train ticket to her destination where she met our dad. And just to contradict the whole sentiment of this thread, that really wasnt my parents fault. shes 20, has travelled loads and should definitely know better. this is not to do with her ability to do maths or anything like that

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PurpleLauren@reddit

Please teach him how to cook and clean etc. He won't just magic these skills. Seeing as you've forgotten about cash lol.

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Forward_Athlete_3187@reddit

There is no way this is real. Your 13 year old never played shops as a kid? Never watched a film or tv show? Never did maths question in class about paying with x money and getting y change?

everybody calling OP a failure, would love to know the last time you paid cash for anything?

whats the problem here? electronic payments clearly are the future, how many of you have ever written a cheque? exactly, it doesnt matter

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Mowgli9991@reddit

I used to get annoyed or frustrated when I asked my son to do something and he would do it wrong, then I realised he doesn’t know how to do it because he’s never been taught. It was my own fault for not teaching him. So things that we as adults find silly and mundane, children don’t understand how to do them.

I never realised as a parent how much responsibility we hold.

Learning through my own shortcomings in parenting, I’ve realised to be patient and answer every question my child asks as silly and as mundane they can be, as they genuinely do not know but wish too. I’ve also learned to never laugh at a question or his mistake because I never want my him to think he could never ask me “how” or “why” to something.

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Eastern-Life-1598@reddit

Boy was forced to buy stuff from five. A) So he could used to currency and to help him count. B) For manners it was a very effective way to instill manners into him. C) The confidence of interacting with an adult.

Yeah. I was only 19 when he was born......

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cruisinforasnoozinn@reddit

Anything your kid doesn’t know is because you haven’t shown them. They haven’t seen you pay for anything in cash? You didnt let them hand the shop keeper the money when they were little? That’s a life lesson you chose to forego. It isn’t a big deal, but maybe don’t rely on the outside world to teach your kid about something that basic.

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TedBurns-3@reddit

Um... That's on you as a parent not teaching your child life skills

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Upstairs-Quail5709@reddit

I hope not. After Digital ID it's Digital Banking. Then the Govt controls everything on your life. Like China

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Prestigious-Candy166@reddit

Future? It has been in the PAST for us for many years!

I have been paying by Mastercard for about 20 years now, so, even before credit card transactions were made fee-free in the UK.. (2018) Now I cycle down to the supermarket filling station for just a few pints of milk, and don't give it a thought.

I carry a little cash for emergencies, but I can't remember the last time the £10 note came out of the pocket inside my Tilley hat. :-)

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Nectarine-999@reddit

Clearly never played ‘pop to the shops’ by Orchard.

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plumbus_hun@reddit

Has your kid never been to the shops before? Or played shops as a small child? My kids are 7 and 9 and know that you give money to the “shopkeeper”.

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KelpFox05@reddit

Yeah, no, you really ought to be showing your kid a variety of transactions and how cash works.

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ueberryark@reddit

You mean you thought everyone shared one big bank account and pooled all their money? That is really so sweet!

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SophieLilith@reddit

Yes! I was (and kind of still am) very naive and don't understand people very well. In my mind, that would work, but in reality obviously it doesn't at all.

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ueberryark@reddit

It would work, if people were nice, but many are driven by insecurities to seek power over others, and so display some very not nice behaviours :/

The boy has a bank account. He's clearly aware of how numbers and counting work and by extension the value of that.

I don't think it's a problem of value but of societal norms. People...don't pay with cash as much as they used. I can't recall the last time I paid something with cash, pre-COVID likely and that means it was well over 6 years ago.

If a child is raised up and all they've ever seen or known is contactless payments...then they're going to be just as alien to the concept of paying by cash as we old farts were when we learned that you can now pay contactless.

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Chuffing_Knackered@reddit

It's still a great way for children to learn Thousands, Hundreds, Tens and Units etc though and plenty of charity shops around here only take cash, which she loves shopping in for teddies and toys.

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SaabAero93Ttid@reddit

Completely useless skill for a child in 2025.

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Chuffing_Knackered@reddit

Hardly, but you do you.

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turbo_triforce@reddit

You guys have basically failed them

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Neither_Process_7847@reddit

Can't think of many supermarkets that are exclusively self service?

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CentralBlob@reddit

Well, I'll admit I usually make such a bee-line for the self service that it's possible there's some tills I'm missing, but I'm pretty sure I've been in a few lately (White City Marks food, Urmston Sainsbury's) that only had self service. Did Asda in Hulme keep a couple when they expanded their self service tills a few years ago?

AttemptImpossible111@reddit

I'm seeing the parents blamed but why? There are certain things you learn just by walking around, watching movies, being outside.

This kid is thirteen years old. Think about when you were 13.

Sorry to say but I think this child is just pretty stupid

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Parenting fail.

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Jenbro1978@reddit

I’m surprised this hasn’t been deleted 😂

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Lion-Resident@reddit

Schools don't teach about anything important like money, budgeting, saving, mortgages, DIY, investing, cooking, hygiene, safe sex, health etc etc

Parent must teach these.

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StarSpotter74@reddit

Except they teach basic concepts of money in primary school, 100p to a £1 etc, in secondary my teen has been learning about gross/net pay etc. They have cdt/woodwork, they've had age appropriate sex and relationship learning since about Y5. They're Y9 and what they're learning about that in school is age appropriate for 14/15yo. They're learning about health, hygiene in PSHE too.

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Infamous-Speed4481@reddit

13 yo here. I learn about cash and coins and change in yr2 and I actually used to think pre-Covid that most ppl used cash and not car.

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AdAsleep9852@reddit

My kids are always asking for a “few quid “ to go down the petrol station.

I am siding with this on him because I was gifted notes as a present and I couldn't get rid of them anywhere because every shop was cash only. A lot of supermarket self service tills are also cash only.

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Els236@reddit

True that I don't remember much from that age, but then again it was very much an age where nothing much happened for me, outside of school.

Then again, my Mother was very much a good parent and taught me most of this kind of stuff herself. I do remember having a £2 allowance from my Gran at around that age, which I had to budget for sweets and Pokemon cards, but again, that's family, not school.

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Etheria_system@reddit

Maths is less like that these days. There’s a lot of practical application built in across all key stages, including counting and using money

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Desertinferno@reddit

You definitely learn what cash is at primary school and have to identify the different coin values.

That's actually blown my mind!

Hate to break it to you but that’s just yo kid

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Sandy_Bananas@reddit

Brother. My 8year old knows about cash. He doesn’t necessarily know the ‘value’ of it. But he knows it’s a thing. We used it to help teach maths….

He gets a little bit of pocket money each week. He can save it or spunk it.

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UltraAnders@reddit

They really never came across a toy till with plastic money to play shop with growing up?

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"I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas!" - OP

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double-happiness@reddit

So he wanted to give us the £20 and have us transfer the money into his account.

I'd have taken it and sent him £15; the kid's not going to know the difference.

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the_Athereon@reddit

That's not an age thing. It's purely a lack of experience amd knowledge. He's obviously never seen a cash transaction.

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Curious-Ad5008@reddit

As someone in their mid30's, if it wasn't for my local barber thats cash only, I wouldn't keep hold of any nor be able to identify what counts as legal tender nowadays.

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nibutz@reddit

My five year old counted out her money box the other day and got it bang on (£13.68, no idea how she’s got so much). She announced cheerfully “Enough for a magazine and maybe a toy too” and then put every coin back in, one at a time. What a racket.

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Busy-Doughnut6180@reddit

I have this exact same conversation with my family all the time but it's because I'd rather not pay in cash.

To be fair to you and your kid, he was, what, 7? during the pandemic? And so many places have remained card only that I'm not surprised at all he doesn't know you can pay with cash.

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Odd-Needleworker-253@reddit

your 13 year old never had a money bank? or found a lucky penny (/pound/fiver) on the ground? has your family never been outdoors before?

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chocklityclair@reddit

YOU HAVE A BANK WHERE YOU CAN PAY IN MONEY?? 😮

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MapOfIllHealth@reddit

My 6yr old uses cash to pay for things on a regular basis. I encourage it because how else will he learn to understand the value of money? A bank card teaches them nothing.

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Bskns@reddit

For what it’s worth some banks have an ATM type machine outside where you can deposit cash, cheques, etc.

Nephew is 3, understands that we have to pay for things in shops and cafes. Also understands that sometimes it is card and sometimes it is cash. Also understands that it could be one of the other in pretty much all places we go to.

A 13 year old who doesn't know a shop takes cash is a bad sign.

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dazzc@reddit

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NoTerm3078@reddit

Is this the future?

My toddler has a money box and when I have cash that I pay with I sometimes give him it to hand to the cashier. Even sometimes get him to put my ApplePay on the card machine - he loves doing that stuff and it’s good for him to learn. With everything being on card and apple/android pay nowadays money isn’t seen and the idea of an expense doesn’t really form - he’s still young to understand but has no real concept that there’s finite money available to buy stuff with. Of course teaching him that that’s why I work and that we can only afford what we can afford etc.

Feels a little wild that a child gets to be a teenager without ever having used cash in a shop but no judgement - different people are different and cultures too.

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Forsaken-Range-3557@reddit

Oh My God

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CartoonistNo9@reddit

Probably 30 plus.

The first "unassisted" transaction I ever made was with cash - I must have been around five, maybe six. Even before then, our parents had taught us how buying stuff worked by having us pick out sweets at the sweet shop and letting us hand over the coins ourselves. Thinking about it now, that also introduced us to basic arithmatic and budgeting. It's a really sweet memory! We also got our pocket money in cash until we were teenagers.

I love the comments here

I mean, it is a bit surprising - and maybe it is the supermarket in particular that he is confused about in regards to cash. Surely he has paid for somethign in his life with cash - right? But maybe never saw you use cash at the grocery store?

Mate, my 4 year old knows he can buy things using coins or notes.

NekoZombieRaw@reddit

In the seventies my uncle used to go with his mum (my gran) to the bank to get money. He used to think you just had to ask and you got given it ... and didn't realise until he was around 16 (ie old enough to get a job and his own account) that's not quite how it works.

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CRTB_OTF2@reddit

My daughter knows money comes in coins, notes and on a card.

She's 4

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DameKumquat@reddit

A lot of shops now won't take cash - some say that but will if you have no alternative, but some, like the cafe in our local park, really won't. Which I found out when I gave the kids some cash and said yes they could have an ice cream each but I wasn't getting up.

Supermarket has about two self-checkouts that take cash as well as card, and are often broken.

So while my teens learned how to use cash as kids, since Covid they've barely touched any - I had to get them bank accounts. And help them with the new skill of phoning up the bank, understanding what the questions mean, and providing the right info to get the PIN on their card reset. Again...

Forsaken-Original-28@reddit

My two year old knows you give shop keepers money to buy things

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Slightly_Woolley@reddit

What future is that - where parents fail to teach important life skills to their children?

Has he never used a game that needs change?

Pool, Air Hockey, those grabby prize things?

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1968Bladerunner@reddit

I've been exchanging my mid-20s kids' cash gifts for bank transfers for years - they know how to use cash, but both use Apple Pay by default & CBA carrying physical money with them.

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d3gu@reddit

Mmmm don't underestimate how utterly, ridiculously ignorant teenagers can be to things. Even really smart ones. Would you expect a baby to know you can use cash at a supermarket? Then don't expect a 13 year old. They wouldn't know if their heads were on fire unless told them.

Source: was a teenager, then I taught them for a while as an adult.

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achuchable@reddit

Maybe don’t let an iPad raise your children for you and they may know these things?

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lumynaut@reddit

this is genuinely a parenting failure holy shit

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

I have a 4 year old nephew who knows what cash is.

So, I guess 4?

It's really up to their upbringing.

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Vampirero@reddit

Yeah, my nephew is 3 and a half and I'm pretty sure he knows what cash is, because his parents taught him.

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Common_Physics_1568@reddit

Yeah at about that age my nephew got given a little coin purse by a grandparent and used to count his "pennies" into it.

Based on the chatty 3 year old I served today at the shop I work at, who had her own purse, and gave me the money to day for the pencil set she bought, I’d say you need to be 3 years old, possibly you could be younger!

I get that he would have been about 7 years old when Covid and lockdown happened, that we moved even more heavily to card transactions instead of cash than we had before, and that due to lockdowns he wouldn’t have been going to the shops with them and seeing them use cash during those lockdowns, but regardless of all of that, what the hell?!

How sheltered a life has your son led that? It is very concerning. If he’s not aware of something this simple, what else is he not aware of? How is the world going to hit him when he’s older?

He’s definitely someone who needs to start volunteering somewhere to get exposed to the world outwith his normal comfort zone and people he knows/are like him. And he turns 16 years old, he needs to get a job working in a shop or restaurant, some service industry job where you need to interact with lots of different people from different backgrounds and be in the service position. You learn a lot.

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CharlemagneKidding@reddit

Failed parent

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-_Error@reddit

My 2 yr old knows she can use pennys to buy things. She loves paying for stuff at the shops.

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AndromedaFire@reddit

Pick a day, set aside an hour and that time is for life skills, manners, skills, DIY like lightbulbs/plugs/ fuses/ water,gas and electrical cut offs. Fires, power cuts, bank accounts, social media, relationships, understanding media source bias etc etc

No one will teach any of this stuff if you don’t. They’ll end up learning badly from YouTube 5 mins before they need it or make memories learning it from you.

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pbfhpunkshop@reddit

When my stepson was about 11-12 he said he'd got a £5 note and wanted to buy some sweets for £1, I said you have the money you can buy them now, but he said he hadn't got £1 only £5, he didn't know you got change when you buy with cash.

I am always stunned by little he knows about money, but the only money he ever really dealt with was V-bucks. After that convo I set him up with a Starling Kite account and would get people to transfer money to him and he'd mainly use his card on his Xbox account to get stuff.

He hadn't bought anything from a shop until I made him at 13, as in he hadn't taken anything to a till and handed over money. Everyone did it for him, he had zero interest.

He turned 16 in January and he got his own Starling account. I want to teach him about budgeting and saving, but get told he's too young and not interested.

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Psychological_Ad853@reddit

He isnt too young, i wasn’t taught but luckily learned how to get a decent credit score myself.

I think teaching him that might be the most helpful, alongside interest and such - At the very least, you know if he ever NEEDS to borrow, he’ll be able to do so without obscene interest rates

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DiscoDoberman@reddit

My 3 year old niece knows what a cash transaction is, she has a shopping till with fake money.

She'll play monopoly when she's older.

I dunno how your 13 year old doesn't understand the concept of cash.

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jock_fae_leith@reddit

This is a direct result of you never getting your son to go to the shop to buy some groceries ie being a parent and providing a learning experience.

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Bran04don@reddit

Wow.

Do they not teach about cash anymore in schools at least?

Fancy-Professor-7113@reddit

My oldest daughter is 14 and more than capable of using cash, nipping to the shop or whatever. But she basically thinks, much like Facebook it's an old people thing. She's sensible enough to keep a tenner in her bag in case of travel card/bank card fail but she'd not think to use cash before her card or phone.

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RunicGloryhole@reddit

Everyone is jumping on you but if he's a kid I guess he's not doing a big weekly shop so is just using the self checkouts, and I haven't got a clue how to pay cash on those.

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Potential-Question-4@reddit

"I've completely failed to teach my child a basic life skill. What is society coming to?"

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dani-dee@reddit

This is wiiild! I had to teach my kids (now aged 14 and 10) how to use their cards at both a self service till and a manned till because they were only used to paying with cash!

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Intelligent-Count-44@reddit

My 13 year old knows and handles cash - but she doesn’t like to. Breaking a note and having a pile of change that feels useless to her, breaking another note and getting more change. Having to carry around change, all the stuff I hated!

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BronnOP@reddit

I think the bigger question here, is how old does your child have to be before you do some parenting?

half said in jest.

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AfraidOstrich9539@reddit

How old do you need to let your kid get before you teach them about money? 🤷‍♂️

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Rho-Mu13@reddit

You know what OP. Parenting is hard. No one is perfect, no harm done. Who actually cares. Enjoy helping your Partner helping your boy to grow.

My daughter is 13. She knows how cash works, that's how she buys sweets and chocolates from the local shop.

My son is 8. He knows how cash works, that's how he also buys sweets and chocolate from the local shop.

How on earth have you managed to not teach your child how money works? This is on you OP.

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Weary_Sun534@reddit

This is the biggest self report.

Ha ha . Finally

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WonderfulMaybe3473@reddit

I wish my 12 year old daughter didn’t know how to use money (including cash or her rooster card..) 😅 but her excessive spending habits aside, I’ve got to agree with the others here. This kind of knowledge comes from adult/ parental interaction with their child. It’s something a kid doesn’t know unless they’re shown.

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randomentity12@reddit

No, your kid is just really fucking stupid.

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thelonelyalien98@reddit

How much of a sheltered life have you been giving your child?

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Oof really feel like multiple people in your child’s life have let them down.

This isn’t a cash is king or some other conspiracy fuelled rant but more of a “if this basic knowledge is missing what else is missing?”

Tax, interest, credit? Please take this eye opener as a chance to educate them.

One of the first things I was exposed to financially was walking to the building society with my dad to pay the mortgage. Also his saying… “when debt comes through the door love goes out the window”.

I’m 36….

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CasioJay88@reddit

Mate my kid is seven and knows she can buy things in shops with cash. Choc bars, magazines and the like. This is on you mate, your lad must be really confused

I feel like teenagers and children are more likely to pay with cash than adults are, because either they have a children's saver account that doesn't come with a bank card at all, or they get pocket money from their parents in the form of coins and notes, then spend it that way.

So, probably around the point in early primary school where the lessons of "Mr Barm the Baker sells cakes at 4p each, biscuits at 3p each and chelsea buns at 6p each, how much will it cost for Sally the Schoolgirl to buy one of each?" Start.

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Dear_Tangerine444@reddit

My kid is 5 3/4 and knows the joy of taking her own money to the toy shop. How does a 13 not know what cash is?!

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Timely_Resist_2744@reddit

Children are taught this in year 1 and 2 (age 5-7), with more advance work as they go up primary school (larger/or more awkward numbers). There are even money questions in both the year 2 and year 6 SATS papers, and in year 6 they are often written ones such as: Amy went into the shop and saw that carrots were for sale for 18p each. She has £3.64. How many carrots can she buy?

They may even follow up with a question like: Amy only needs 6 carrots. How much change would she have left after buying 6 carrots? Show your working.

So the fact that your child does not know this is solely on you. I'm guessing that he was actually playing innocent as he was hoping to scam you into putting the £20 in his account so he can spend it online and also letting him keep the note (after sitting through a lesson from you on how money works in shops). Either that or he's a child with other redeeming features, as not all children are academic.

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Gloomy_Custard_3914@reddit

I fear this is a parenting fail. You're raising an idiot. Thankfully he is young enough that you can still fix it.

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PsychologySpecific16@reddit

Ive got 3 local pubs that are cash only. So was the local garage until recently.

NightsisterMerrin87@reddit

Eh, this one is on you. My 7 year old knows what cash is and how to pay with cash.

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RandomPerson12191@reddit

Your child? Your child who you brought into the world with the intention of teaching them about said world? That child?

Yeah for sure this is becoming a thing, though the pace at which society is going cashless varies a lot by region.

So he knew about cash, but you never thought to explain its uses?

FYI Just go to a corner shop with a post office counter

I've paid cash into my account as late as like 9:30pm at the local one

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TheNotSpecialOne@reddit

Ah 13 he should know by now about paying in cash

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EvenMathematician874@reddit

I think typically kids know cash before card. and i find it odd for children to have cards.

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TapeDeckSlick@reddit

He wants to oder something online

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Lister_RD_169@reddit

That's absolutely a failing on your part as parents.

My two kids, both a few years younger than yours, have known how to pay for things with cash since they started getting pocket money several years ago.

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