Money belts for kids?

There is no right answer. People here aren't in the business of telling you how to raise your children.

How much responsibility do the 10 and 13 year olds have at home? If you have them carry their own passports will they also be responsible for their own airline tickets?

I've never seen child sized moneybelts so if the children are on the small size they might be quite unwieldy and uncomfortable, and if they slipped down, unsafe.

j&v

Nigel's reply is right - there are many, many posts on the forum here, discussing money belts, and hundreds of opinions. So you will have to figure out what your goal is - teaching them responsibility, or protecting yourselves from a major disruption.

my opinion is, if you are all traveling together, when you are entering or exiting a country at the airport, it is easier if one adult carries the kids passports and plane tickets, handing them to the kids when ready to go through security, immigration etc. Once you get where you are going, use hotel safe (or whatever) for cards & passport. During the rest of the trip, you only need to carry those things in a money belt, when you are in transit between destinations. On a normal walking-around tourist day, you only need to carry enough cash on your person for what you expect to use during that day. Same for the kids. You still need to protect it from theft, but you don't need to walk around with everything you brought with you every day.

@Jenanadiv

welcome.

im going w/nigel on this one.

i dont have kids so you can add that to my qualification or lack of it.

but i will add a comment/thought for you.

How much do you want release your responsibilities as a parent. Giving them ownership of some $$ and packing is nice, but if you loose a passport, youre up a creek w/o a paddle. and it wont be fun running helter skelter around trying to get it replaced while you continue your travels if you do. Its just something to think about when your deciding on what to do. I personally havent lost my passport on any of my travels and i hope i never do.

happy trails.

No right or wrong way, as noted. Here would be my preference: Carry their passports in your money belt. Regarding cash, have them carry small amounts of cash in their day bag, wallet, pocket, etc. just as you are planning to do since you wouldn't want to reach into your money belt for the smaller transactions. I usually carry about no more the 50 of the country's currency in a secure yet relatively easily accessible spot for the more every day purchases, such as coffee, gelato, etc. I figure I could lose that amount of cash without having my trip ruined (have never lost it though!).

The previous poster (I think two up) suggested to put your stuff in the hotel safe when out and about. Personally, I carry all my valuables (i.e., passport, credit card, debit card, etc.) in my money belt at all times with me. Again, matter of what is your preference and comfort level. I do keep copies of that stuff in a safe location back at the hotel though.

Well I have kids and have travelled with them to Europe.

They do not wear moneybelts.

They do carry some pocket money,, but not in a moneybelt.. NO.. the idea of a money belt for anyone is that its DEEP STORAGE ,, you do not access it while out and about. Passport and bulk of cash and credit cards maybe.. but spending cash for the day is in a pocket or purse. One would be foolish to keep pulling out their moneybelt from under their clothes to pay for an ice cream.. just the risk of something falling out alone should stop you.

I am not a person who carrys my passport around anyways.. it stays in hotel safes.. but when in transit I do put it in moneybelt and my childrens also. Its not a joke,, teaching kids responsibilty is great but staying in Europe for an extra week while you get a new passport would not be.. and paying the huge price for new one way tickets home,, no thanks.

Kids should however have some cash on them and the hotel card from where you are staying... That way if they get lost they can jump in a taxi and go back to hotel.

I took my daughter when she was 11 and my son when he was 13.

Travelling with our daughters (then 13+14) they each had a money belt. They had their own money in it, along with their rail pass and a photocopy of their passport. Before heading out we would each put whatever spending money we thought we would need for the day into our pockets or day bags and the rest stayed in the money belt. I had their passports in my money belt. For my girls, I felt they were mature enough to carry their own cash, debit cards and rail passes. It truly depends on the children.

Sylvia your 13 yr old has a debit card???

Thank you for all the replies! Some very valuable information. I think they will each carry just a little cash on their person for the day. I already told them they have to bring their own spending money for souveniers (for the most part!) I want them to feel vested in this trip and to know that it is a huge financial undertaking for our fmily to take this trip. Anyhow, we are staying in apartments the entire time-so no hotel safes! I will enquire with the owners of the apartments if they have safes in the apartments.
Thanks again for the advice!

It's a good idea to make sure they always have the address where you are staying with them and enough cash to take a cab there in case you somehow get separated.

I travelled with a friend a couple of years ago. In Paris we had a plan for what to do in case we got separated using the metro. It can happen that one gets on or off the train and the other doesn't quite make it. It's a good thing we had that plan because that's exactly what happened to us. She got on and the doors closed before I could get on. When we caught up with each other she was very nervous as she had never been to Paris before and was concerned I wouldn't find her. When I told her she could have just taken a cab back to our apartment, she admitted she had no idea what the address was, or even the street name. I guess she wasn't carrying around with her the itinerary I made with all our lodging addresses!

If staying in apartments I just leave my stuff in them.. most have very secure door systems.. in paris we had 3 locked doors before our door, and many are in residential building so strangers do not just walk in and out .

Andrea so true.. my 13 yr old was with my hubby and he got on the metro and doors shut before my hubby could get on.. Luckily we had told him if that ever happened to simply get off at next stop. Another train comes along in minutes and hubby just boarded it and got off at next stop to find son waiting. Son was laughing btw . not scared at all.. hubby was traumatized however. lol

Hi Pat, both my kids had debit cards ( I believe I had to co-sign or something with TD) They both had their own money (babysitting,yard sale,birthday money)and knew that when it was gone, it was gone.

We gave our 14 year old her own passport and enough money to grab a cab back to our hotel in case of being separated and a business card for the hotel we are staying at to show the cab driver in an emergency. She kept small amounts of cash in her pockets. My husband and I split the other cash between our money belts and carried a copy of her passport in our belts as well. We weren't separated, but I was happy knowing she had the means to get back to a meeting point that we would return to on the chance it happened. (She is a fairly mature child and has been flying alone since about 8 years old with unaccompanied minor programs and more recently without them-so she may not have been your average 14 year old.)

When I travel with the grandkids I always carry the passports and they have their own money...however, not in a money belt...I think a neck wallet would work best for kids. Easy to access for their spending money and they can put a card with hotel info in case they get lost. (I never use a money belt, but carry passport with me all the time in a small cross body purse... could put it inside my clothes if I felt I might be pickpocketed)

When my family went to Israel 20 years ago, my sister and I were 10 and 12. My parents carried our passports in their neck wallets and gave us spending money. Looking back on it, I think that was a good solution. Parents know where the passports are and kids are free to have fun. It's a vacation, after all!

Whatever you're comfortable with.

Our kids started taking care of their passports much earlier, I think 7 may have been earliest, because we've always tried to encourage some personal responsibility. We didn't travel with them until they were able to keep up during a full day of walking and carry/roll their own bag (just a school daypack for a seven year old).

I'm not sure it's the ideal answer because research shows children's brains don't process risk the way an adult would, so it's impossible to get them to really protect their neck wallet. We experienced many times where a kid would leave their neck wallet behind in the hotel when we checked out. If we didn't stop and do inventory, we would have lost a passport. The alternative was mom, or dad, lugging a lot of passports in their neck wallet or moneybelt - which isn't ideal either.

I think it's a good idea for them to have an allowance and keep it in their own pocket. Let them spend it on anything reasonable. We carry-on only; certain things (e.g. knife, snowglobe) can't be carried on, so there has to be some limits on what they buy.

That said my sons bought some Spanish made replica swords (didn't fit in either their carry-on or their allowance), so we ended up buying a wheeled duffel bag from a street vendor, reinforced it, and checked that on the flight home - just to get the swords home.

I have my son wear a money belt - actually he wears an adult neck wallet, but across his body so it's across one shoulder and the pouch is hanging on his side under his arm. He's 10. I use him basically as my backup. So he has a photocopy of his passport page (I have the real one) and then about $100 in whatever currency. I don't intend to use it, it's just in case MY money gets stolen or lost or whatever.

Why? Why would you let a child hold his own passport or a significant amount of cash?? One parent should be in charge of all passports and they should be kept together. I hold all of them and a few credit cards and any significant amount of cash on me.