So that allowance money jar thing was cute for a while but then my kids grew up a little and it got to be, you know, the year 2020. We still do the same allowance allotment in our family, but now the children have Greenlight debit cards instead of jars of dollar bills. I’ll tell you why this way is better. 

Greenlight makes charge cards for children, in their own names, with robust controls for both kids and parents. You can still give them money, separated by category such as Spend, Save, and Give but you do it with bank transfers, not cash. 

We began using Greenlight when my son began asking to buy things on Amazon. It got to be annoying for him to pull dollars out of his allowance jar, give them to me, and have me order it for him. Also, it was not giving him a sense of really using the money himself. We were just passing dollars back and forth. With Greenlight, he can check his spend balance himself and order his own desirables, within reason. If a live animal shows up here, we’re going to have a problem. 

When one of your children uses their Greenlight card, the parent receives an alert for where and how much. If they go over budget, you can approve an increase in real-time. You can also go over reports of their spending with them. If they have a phone, they will get this breakdown too. If they don’t have a phone, they can still use the card just fine. 

Using a credit card can seem like a magical power for a child. They will live in an increasingly cashless society and I think it is important for them to know how to use this magical power responsibly and early exposure will teach them just that.  

Greenlight is not actually a credit card wherein you can carry a balance, in case you are worried about your little spendthrift. It is a debit card, meaning they can only spend what is in their coffers. They cannot rack up an interest-bearing balance, thank goodness!

Every time my children use their Greenlight cards, they get a lot of attention for it. The cashiers are usually tickled pink at a 3 year old buying a doll with her own card. Although people in line behind you may not think it’s so cute if it takes a long time, which it can because children need extra time to understand the pin machine.

But think of the possibilities, especially for more independent children! If your child likes to go for after-school snacks with friends, you don’t have to give them cash or lend them your credit card. If they want to go to the movies with friends, they will have their own buying power. And if they can’t keep to a budget of, say $20 per week, that becomes their problem, and not yours. 

“Guess you shouldn’t have bought all those snacks on the first day then!” 

Now here is an extra boss move: our kids spend tax-free dollars when they use their Greenlight cards. How? Their cards are loaded up with money they make by working for our family business! They are paid less than $12,000 per year and since they are minors, they are not required to file taxes on that money by law. So when they want to spend some cash – with limits set by yours truly! – they do so with money they earned tax-free! I don’t have to earn $20 + 30% more to give my child $20. My company has to earn $20, and pay it to the child directly. Come on! That’s a baller parenting move right there! 

Greenlight charges a fee of $4.99 per month for up to 5 cards and it does not work internationally. The first month is free and you can cancel at any time. You can also pay a little extra to get your child’s photo or some fun design on the card, although I’m not sure if this makes it more or less safe. Maybe a thief would be deterred to steal the card if the photo is super cute? I don’t know. I have not personalized our cards just yet. 

I have also not had any push-back when my 3 year-old cannot sign the receipt for her own card. I usually sign it for her and no one seems to mind.

I highly encourage you to check out Greenlight for your children and let me know if it is a hit for you like it is for us!

Note: This post may include links to companies that I have affiliate relationships with. See my Affiliated Disclosure here.