Children shopping without adults

[DelythBeautyQueen]

I recently started working in a small corner sweet shop.

This afternoon, when I was working alone, three little girls aged between five and six came into the shop. All three came up to the counter and without saying anything, the oldest looking girl put a bank card on the counter.

The three girls turned away and started selecting sweets from the displays.

I called the girl back and asked her if her mother was coming in and she said "No". I told her I couldn't take any payments from the bank card without the owner present.

The girl picked up the card and all three left the shop.

About five to 10 minutes later, the (I assume) mother came in, apologised and paid for the sweets with the card.

I have never worked in a shop before, so I don't know if it's normal for people to send such young children into a shop with a bank card. It doesn't seem right to me and in fairness, the child's mother didn't seem surprised or put out that I wasn't prepared to accept card payment without her present.

Is this normal? Was I being unreasonable?

That's a brave mother, sending 3 kids into a sweetshop to run riot with her debit card. I think you did the right thing to check, they could have pinched it out of mums purse for all you knew.

So at center parcs they don't take cash any more. This means I've let my ten year old go off with my bank card to get an ice cream.
I think 5/6 is a bit more of a grey area but I'd probably judge based on the amount.

I've sent my DC in with my card to pay for stuff before, they're given strict instructions about how much they can spend. How else are they meant to pay for things? They're too young for their own card (11 for banks and I'm not paying the fees on a go Henry).

Most of our local shops don't accept cash as the bank has closed and we're miles from a cash machine.

At 5/6 years old and with no adult in sight, I think it would be irresponsible for a shop assistant to accept a payment for anything on a bank card. They are not old enough to have one for a start! You did the right thing OP and I think that mum was off her rocker!

I probably started doing this with mine when they were about 8/9.

At 11 my youngest has her own card now anyway.

Are you sure it wasn't Go Henry?

Tricky. 5 or 6 is a bit young, but teaching independence is good and you likely would not have balked if they had cash.

You also need to be sure you are estimated age correctly. People get DD’s age wrong all the time just because she is short. It’s extremely annoying.

wanted to add that we got dd a bank card at age 11. Being cash only just isn’t feasible anymore.

I stand outside with the dog and my granddaughters go in with my card, they are 6 and 7. The lady on the till can see me and knows the girls choose what they want come near the door to show me, then I give a thumbs up to the lady or send them to put something back 😂, I wouldn’t let them go out of sight though I have to admit , but then they aren’t my children

I sent mine in around about 7 with both cash and my phone with instructions about what to get.

My youngest is approaching 7 and I know if I said go by x and ill wait outside, here is the means of paying he would be fine.

They have no other means of paying especially if a shop doesn't take cash and its good for them to learn how to deal with a shopping experience.

I don't think I would have trusted them aged 5 and until they are older I wouldn't be anywhere other than outside. The shop is a 5 minute walk away and my oldest who turns 9 soon isn't yet allowed to walk there alone but it is something I want to start practising more with me behind him because they need to learn.

Was she outside with the dog? If so it's fine for the mother the ok from a distance

Thank you for your replies.

The children were gone for at least five minutes and there wasn't any sign of a dog when the mother came back with the girls. There is a small park just up the road, so she might have come from there.

The card had the name Mrs... on it, so it wasn't one of the cards meant for children. I couldn't swear to their exact ages, but the girls were years younger than 10.

We accept cash and card payments and - although I would have been surprised to see such young children out alone - I would have accepted cash for low value items like sweets. I wasn't happy about accepting what was obviously an adults bank card without the adult being present.

I have a debit card with small amounts that i let kids use for takeaways and such.

@DelythBeautyQueen probably best to ask the shop owner what they'd like you to do.

I'd be happy to let them use it.

so many places don't take cash anymore, it's harder to give kids the independence & responsibility. They should allow younger children to have cards, it's up to the parents how much money they put into the account.

if I let the kids go to the shop next to the park, & the shop keeper stopped my kids using my card, I'd not annoyed at 'you' but I'd be a bit frustrated.

That was one brave mother - I wouldn't have let mine loose with my bank card.😳. (Unless it was one of cards for kids, of course).

I’m fairly confident the bank would say you were right.

We keep cash in the house partly to give to the kids fir getting stuff from the shop! They were 8/9 when we started.

We use cash so its "real" rather than virtual.

It's tricky, but with the slow disappearance of cash, I really do think the banks need to come up with a standard, free 'Go Henry' type system that is available to all children, and that can be charged up by parents/carers.

In OPs case, I agree, I would have refused.

If you accept card payment when it's obvious that the person tendering it is not the person who is named on the card you could end up in all sorts of situations, e.g. fraud. Not in this case, obviously, but you see what I mean.