Do your kids ask you for money for their games?

We all know that being a parent is a difficult task, it requires a lot of responsibility and commitment. But being the parent of a gamer is by itself an additional difficulty level.

The good news is that if you also like video games, both of you will be able to enjoy something together. You and your kids will spend hours sharing, immersed in fascinating worlds.

When kids are between 5 and 7 years, adults can choose what they play and, often, it will be enough for them. The problem arises when those kids grow up and start asking their parents for money to buy video games.

Nowadays, some of the most popular games for children are free but involve many in-game microtransactions. You could buy skins or packs to improve certain features, for example, in Fortnite or Fall Guys.

There are also paid titles that offer extra DLCs that can be more expensive, such as Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, or Forza Horizon. And others are franchises and have an extensive series of video games, such as FIFA, Lego, or Minecraft.

All this will be complicated for your budget if you do not teach your children how to manage money. Let’s remember what happened to Thomas Carter, whose bank account was emptied by his children after they used his credit card to buy items for FIFA.

So, in this article, we want to give you some tips for when your kids ask you for money for their games and how to get them free gift cards.

Teach them money management with free gift cards

You need to consider teaching your children about money management. A good idea is to give them a monthly allowance and have them manage their own money. The idea is to offer them a fixed amount at the beginning of the month and not give them anything more. They must learn the consequences of their decisions and that money is limited.

You can teach them to set some goals if what they want is out of their budget. For example, if they want to buy an expensive video game, you can teach them to save money every month to buy the game.

You can also develop a budget together. They can allocate some of their money for savings, video games, or anything else they might want. The main idea is to set an amount for each thing since some may be worth more than others or have more priority.

If you are going to set a certain budget for video games, an excellent idea is to get free gift cards for them that they can administer.

Why it’s important to teach them how to manage their own money?

Every act has its consequence, and it is important for children to learn that. If they spend all their money on video games, they will have to deprive themselves of other things that they also want.

It is important to remember that children are going to grow up at some point and become adults. Thus, you need to teach them to develop financial intelligence and better decision-making. The sooner they learn to manage their money and spend it in a smarter way, the better for you and for them.

So, if you haven’t started doing it yet, we recommend that you start now. You can even combine these life tips with some financial lessons offered by video games.

How to manage in-game purchases?

Banning video games is not an option, since it will not work. This will encourage them to do things behind your back. The best option is to look for ways to protect your finances from compulsive shopping, while still letting them have some fun.

Generally, the platforms ask for your credit card to be able to make purchases. Then, you must enter all the data to proceed with payments. But you should keep in mind that sometimes they give you the option to save your information which can put your money at risk.

Never save your credit card information on any platform. In this way, if your children try to make a purchase, either accidentally or intentionally, there will be no card registered so they won’t be able to do it.

You can also choose to set a password or lock screen to make payment confirmations. Also, keep the notifications of purchases activated, so you can know as soon as a non-authorized transaction is made.

Another highly recommended option is to create a separate account for your child.

Many platforms like Playstation, Xbox Games, and Nintendo have options to add family members and create profiles for kids. This will help you set parental controls and block any access to online purchases.

Besides, you can choose to only give them free gift cards to buy games. So you will not have to enter your credit card in any store. You will only need the gift card code.

Teach your children to earn their rewards

After each completed level in a video game, you usually get a reward. Apply the same concept to your kids, to keep them motivated. Besides, let them know that their good actions can have excellent rewards.

With this, you will teach them to take care of their own money since they will know how much effort they need to put into each dollar earned. But, above all, they will understand that life is not like Animal Crossing where money grows on trees. From a young age, they will understand that the things they want need more effort, work, and dedication.

For example, you could give them a Gift Card for the Steam store if they had excellent grades at school this year. Or if they take part in cultural or sports activities, you can give them some new games if they show a real effort.

So, they will not take for granted that you will always give them money and they will feel as if they actually earned it by themselves.

Have direct communication with your children

It is important that both of you can talk openly and honestly about the things your children want. You don’t need to hide money from them to have peace of mind at home. The best way to avoid that is to have a good relationship, in which they can tell you when they want a new game without feeling judged.

Try to understand what they are asking of you, if you don’t know much about the game, check that it is appropriate for their age and ask them why do they want that.

Sometimes, there are desires that are temporary. That arises because some friend at school has the same thing or because they saw it in some advertising. But these types of cravings pass quickly.

That’s why it’s important to have a conversation with them and analyze if it’s something they really want and will use or if it’s just a whim.

This will help you build a trusting relationship with them and get you more involved in what they like. So, you’ll be able to suggest more ideas if the chosen game is not appropriate or if it is an unnecessary expense that they won’t end up using.

Depending on your budget, you can negotiate with them and help them to choose something that will serve them better in the long run.

For example, there are expensive games that ensure more hours of fun and there are cheaper games that are really short and have no replayability.

Buying and earning free gift cards at the same time

Another option is to use rewards cards that give you credits or points every time you shop. In this way, you are pampering your children while at the same time you are saving and earning.

A good example of this is the Ugami card. The advantage is that every time you buy or pay anything using this card, you will get Ugipoints that you can redeem in our store for gaming items like gaming consoles, GPUs and more. You can use them in your daily shopping when you go to the supermarket or to the gas station. It is a good solution since we are always buying things for our homes.

When you get enough points you can even use them to give your children free gift cards, only by redeeming your Ugipoints, without having to put in an extra dollar. How about that?

Tell us what other strategies you would use when your kids ask you for money to buy video games.