generational wisdom

The girls and I went to that fun big-box store yesterday afternoon that has the concentric red circles for a logo in order to pick up a few necessities. As we walked into the store, a woman approached us with a warning that, "the credit and debit lines are down. They are only accepting cash and checks." Uh oh. When was the last time I had more than $7.89 in my wallet? I know that amount because that is what I had yesterday: just enough to get the girls the promised snacks, and myself a tall, cold Venti-Passion-Iced-Tea-Unsweetened, please, at the co-located St*rbucks inside the store; we sat and waited for the end of the tragedy.

But this is what I noticed: the few people who were in line who were buying, and there were VERY FEW, were of the older generation. I would guess they were 65 and up. They had checks. They had cash. Their collective shopping days weren't stopped dead in their tracks.

Something I have been thinking about lately is this: we are going to have to be very purposeful in teaching the girls about money when all they see are the debit cards whipped out of Mommy and Daddy's wallets. Check are still a bit esoteric, but at least it is paper, like cash. I think they need to see more cash, and start to understand the true value of money, not just what money can buy.

And if that giant ATM-controlling satellite in the sky comes crashing down one day disabling all electronic financial transactions, what in the world will we do then?