As part of Singapore's new push to catch up with China and move ourselves toward becoming a cashless Smart Nation, a slew of initiatives that build toward this goal were introduced.

One of these is a contactless smartwatch programme started by POSB, which facilitates contactless payments by children and allows their parents to track their expenses from a given allocated allowance placed in their bank accounts via an app.

This was rolled out for 6,000 students at 19 primary schools last Wednesday (Aug. 16). It's also aimed at teaching them to manage their money wisely.

The children can use their allowance on their smart watches to buy books and food from the bookshop and canteen, as well as shops outside like Cheers and Popular bookstore.

It is this initiative in particular that triggered a reaction, a reflection and a long post on Facebook by YES 933 deejay Lim Peifen.

Life lessons in managing cold hard cash

The consciousness of counting cash

Lim argues that the process of learning how to count money, in the form of notes and coins, is a crucial part of a child's development and maturity.

"It was important for me to see the notes and coins, to count them every day, because the physical presence of cash reminded me of how much or how little I actually had."

The satisfaction of saving

She also highlighted the satisfaction one feels in successfully saving enough cash to buy an item — the sound of a coin hitting the top of a stack of others; the weight of a jar filled with 50-cent or one-dollar coins in particular — all tangible things going cashless won't give the experience of.

[related_story]

Responsibility and understanding consequences

Keeping a physical purse with notes and coins also taught her responsibility and stewardship, Lim added.

"I understood responsibility: if I lost it, I would have no money left for the day. If I lost it, my parents would be upset. I bore my little responsibility to the best of my ability, and when I failed, I tasted the consequence."

Learning social skills

Lim also said she picked up social skills as a student through interactions she had with the canteen stall aunties and uncles, who guided her as she counted out money to pay for her food and drinks — something that is less likely to happen if all transactions were made seamless and as quickly as tapping a watch.

"Most of the time our conversation would involve Aunty or Uncle telling me the price of my purchase, and while I struggled with my coins and notes, as long as I remembered to be polite and smile, Uncle or Aunty would wait patiently and praise me for finally getting it right, or kindly correct me if I paid the wrong amount."

It is from her childhood experience that Lim, who calls herself an "old-fashioned cynic", feels it's unfortunate that we find ourselves rushing to leave notes and coins behind.

Read her full post here:

Read our other stories on the move to cashless:

mrbrown: S’pore slow on going cashless because we’ve too many cards

S’porean business owner perfectly explains why going cashless is a really tough transition for S’pore

PM Lee had casual Twitter chat with S’porean billionaire that might accelerate Smart Nation initiative

More than 10 cities in China are now cashless & card-less on public transport

Top photo via Lim Peifen's Facebook page.