Maggie’s First “Credit” Card
September 14, 2015
Perhaps you have been to Dave and Buster’s (D&B’s). It is basically a place to have easy fun, with the look and feel of a casino for the family. Grab a burger and a beer, give the kids some money, and watch the fun begin. The place is full of video games from shooting aliens to realistic driving simulators which allow you to drive a Ferrari at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix for $1.25.
As part of the family fun experience, D&B’s has created an emporium where both adults and children can play games – and win worthless stuff. Moreover D&B’s has made the gaming experience much easier for the parents. No longer must a parent parcel out quarters for games. Now, a pre-loaded card is used to feed the machines requiring just a simple swipe. Of course more money can be added to the cards when depleted but what happens when the banker has run dry?
I recently spent time at D&B’s with friends, and I witnessed Maggie, a precocious six year-old softball-playing phenomenon, have her first experience with a card that pays for stuff. Her mom provided Maggie and her brother with loaded cards, along with a strict warning that game time would be over once the cards ran dry. It was made clear that the children had to manage their cards carefully, and pay attention to how much each game cost.
Our Maggie hit the game floor of D&B’s with her card in hand ready for some action. As Maggie fixated on her game of choice and the prospect of winning a huge stuffed animal, she was like a swiping machine. Game over….swipe again. Swipe after swipe, Maggie tried to amass the winnings needed to win the trophy on which she had set her heart. Of course Maggie’s game card soon read empty, much like being over your card limit and having your credit shut off. As you can imagine, Maggie’s response was not pretty. A plea to the banker – “Mom, can I have more credit?” was met with an unwavering and disciplined response – “More credit? I told you that was all you got and you had to make it last. No more for you young lady.”
Maggie’s immediate reaction was tears followed by the inevitable phrase we parents have heard a hundred times, “that’s not fair, everyone else is still playing”. Maggie had not truly understood the rules of the card that had been so carefully explained to her. Perhaps without even knowing, Maggie’s mom had provided her with a wonderful learning experience about the use of a “credit” card. Today’s credit card companies might learn something from the parenting skills of Maggie’s mom and how she handled her young daughter’s first “credit” card experience with clear, understandable rules enforced with fair and appropriate consequences.
Carl Gambrell
