Guest Author - Value of Real Money and Kids Today

Following is an e-mail I received earlier today from a life-long friend which I thought you would find interesting.

"Galagher"

"Galagher,

You and I are a couple of good old boys from Brighton. I feel that we both grew up in families that really understood not only the concept of money, but also the true value of money. What I mean by 'true value' is how it is earned and the means by which it is earned. This being Men and Women such as our parents and Ourselves going out working hard during tough times.

This made me think of the days our our youth when we would scour the ditches for empty pop bottles and take them to Bonisteel's little grocery to get our two cents or treats in return. The many of cold night we worked together after school or on Saturdays deliverying the Stedmans' flyers all over town for half a cent a flyer. We both knew and understood the idea and value of money. We had coins in our pockets and sometimes even bills in our wallets.

Sadly, this is not always true of kids today. Too often kids think that money is magical and comes from plastic cards, be it Visa or MC or even a Bank Debit Card. They see their parents pulling out these plastic cards and getting merchandise without any actual currency changing hands. They are not being taught the importance of having actual funds in their own pockets or wallets, nor do kids today really grasp the value of the services or the merchandise their parents are buying. Kids simply do not get it. It is magic for them; they never see the items actually being paid for by real money.

I have often wondered why when I purchase something, the young student at the cash does not count my change when handing it to me. This simply does not happen in today's society with kids working in the various retail outlets. It is due to the fact that they are ignorant (not their fault) as to how to count change. Schools and retailers do not teach them that, plus they do not completely understand what cash in hand is. The older cashiers still count the money back for the most part since they have been trained and they understand it.

Linda and I got into a discussion today on this very subject and we both agree with an article that was in the paper early this week. This article basically said what I have just said, Kids today do not know, grasp or understand how money is earned. The cashless society and all those credit / debit cards are taking away a vital knowledge from our children.

Thank god, we grew up in the age when we did."

Thank you John.

P.S. John mentioned Bonisteel's grocery. It brought back a memory to me. Right beside their grocery store was a pop bottling works. They would throw out, back of their building, damaged pop bottles - i.e. ones they believed could no longer be refilled. As kids we would scour through those 'damaged' bottles and pick out the ones that were least 'damaged'. And then it was off to Bonisteel's to cash them in for 'real' money. I have wondered how many times some of those damaged bottles got recycled due to our efforts. G