Approving your Child’s Transactions

Teaching your children how to manage money is a journey that requires both freedom and oversight. On KiddyCash, every time your child attempts to spend from their wallet—whether it’s for a snack at a school canteen in Nairobi or a new digital subscription—the transaction enters a “Pending” state.

As the parent or guardian, you act as the final gatekeeper. This ensures that funds are spent wisely and helps you facilitate conversations about safe spending for kids before the money actually leaves the family account.

Key Terms to Know

Before we dive into the steps, let’s define a few terms you will see in the app:

  • Pending Transaction: A payment request initiated by your child that is currently waiting for your permission.
  • Transaction Code: A unique short-code generated by the merchant (like a local shop or school) that identifies the specific purchase.
  • Wallet Balance: The amount of KES currently available in your child’s account, often funded via your linked M-Pesa or bank card.

How to Review and Authorize a Payment

Follow these steps to review and approve a pending request from your child’s dashboard.

  1. Access the Transactions Menu Log into your KiddyCash parent portal. From the main navigation, head directly to your family transaction management page. Here, you will see a chronological list of all activities across your family’s wallets.

  2. Filter for “Pending” Requests Locate the “Status” filter at the top of the transaction list and select Pending. This will highlight the requests currently awaiting your action. You can see which child is making the request, the merchant involved (e.g., “Greenwood Academy Canteen”), and the amount in KES.

  3. Review the Details Click on a specific transaction to see the full details. Check the transaction code and the description. If your child is at a physical business, they may have been given a code to provide to you. Verify that the amount matches what they discussed with you.

  4. Approve or Decline

    • To Approve: Click the green “Approve” button. You may be asked to enter your KiddyCash PIN or use biometric authentication (fingerprint/FaceID) to finalize the movement of funds.
    • To Decline: Click “Decline.” You will be prompted to provide a reason (e.g., “Too expensive” or “Not allowed today”), which will be sent as a notification to your child’s app.

  5. Confirm Completion Once approved, the status will change to Completed, and the merchant will receive an instant notification that the payment is successful.

Why Speed Matters

It is important to act on these requests promptly. To prevent merchant queues from getting backed up—especially in busy school environments—requests have a time limit. We recommend understanding transaction expiry so you know exactly how long your child has before a request is automatically cancelled.

If you find that you are manually approving many small, recurring transactions (like a daily KES 100 lunch), you might want to look into setting up smart approvals. This feature allows you to set “safe zones” or maximum daily limits where transactions are approved automatically, saving you time while still keeping your child within a budget.

Troubleshooting Tips

  • I don’t see the transaction: Ensure your child has actually hit “Submit” on their end. They must have a sufficient wallet balance (loaded via M-Pesa or allowance) for the request to reach your portal.
  • The merchant says it failed: If you approved it but the merchant hasn’t seen the confirmation, check your internet connection and refresh the transaction page to ensure the status shows as “Completed.”