When you open your ATM bank, you must program in the date, time, your child's name and your child's PIN number. Generally, your child must activate the ATM bank, by putting in his or her card for the first time. From then on, you can make deposits by entering money and hitting the "deposit" button. You must ensure that your bank records your withdrawals, by typing in the amount of money that you withdraw.
Kids, while they are still young, often want to mimic their parents. Just as little girls see their mothers putting on makeup and want to imitate them, when kids see their parents using ATM machines, they become more interested in using ATM machines. ATM machines allow kids, like their parents, to make deposits and withdrawals of money, while providing kids with very realistic computerized displays of their savings to date.
Toy ATM banks can help kids grasp what's involved in saving money toward a goal. By allowing kids to check their rising and falling bank balances, banks instantly show kids the consequences of withdrawing, or depositing, money. You, as the parent, can help this process along by encouraging your kid to save for something, such as a bike or a trip, and helping them come up with a plan of how much money they must deposit every day or week. Certain kid ATM banks can actually be programmed to save money toward a specific goal, by asking your child what he would like to save for and when he would like to purchase it and enabling your child to see his goal and how much longer it will take to achieve it.
Society widely recognizes the need to teach kids how to save. The American Bankers Association, for instance, established Teach Children to Save Day on April 12, with a goal of reaching one million children with savings education on that day. Nowadays, when kids reach a certain age, they gain easy access to revolving credit; yet, the United States, overall, has a savings rate of less than 1 percent. ATM banks for kids, used appropriately, may help kids to grasp the meaning of saving money toward a goal.