If you read the latest survey on how well teens are learning to manage their money, it's clear they still have a way to go.

The results of the eighth annual poll on Teens and Personal Finance by Junior Achievement Worldwide found that many teens are already developing some bad financial habits.

"Many teens seem to be taking advantage of parental responsibility for minors' debts by not bothering to learn how to manage their credit card's monthly payments," according to the JA Worldwide/Allstate Foundation poll, which surveyed 1,512 teens online last October and November.

That's right, managing their credit card payments.

The poll found that teens wield powerful spending tools, namely credit cards, in increasing percentages as they get older. Among teens ages 13-14, only 2.7 percent report having credit cards.

However, that percentage nearly doubles to 5.3 percent for teens 15-16, doubles again to 10.6 percent for 17-year-olds, and then nearly triples to 28.8 percent for teens 18 or older.

It's really frightening to me to think of students that young already dealing with credit cards. You know the credit card companies are thinking, "Hook 'em now, and you've got them for life."

That's how you get statistics like this: Experts say the average college freshman has more than $1,500 in credit card debt, which will more than double upon graduation.

The Junior Achievement/Allstate poll found that 2.4 percent of teens surveyed admitted occasionally skipping credit card payments. Just over 15 percent make the minimum monthly payment, and some teens make no contribution whatsoever to their credit card debt, with 11.2 percent acknowledging that their parents make their monthly payments.

"We need to do a much better job of preparing our children to avoid the financial pitfalls that so many adults have faced by teaching our kids how to effectively manage their money," said Gerald M. Czarnecki, president and chief executive of JA Worldwide.

Junior Achievement programs teach students in all grades money management skills, such as how to create and stick to a budget, and also educate them about the cost of credit and how to make smart, informed financial choices.

But parents also need to exercise some tough love here. You're not doing them any favors by bailing them out of credit card debt.

"Parents need to take an active role in teaching their children about the importance of maintaining good credit," said Jim Hohmann, president and CEO of Allstate Financial. "The fact that so many of the teens surveyed are using credit and skipping payments, paying the minimum or having their parents make the payments for them, suggests that they are missing the personal accountability that goes along with using credit."

The trouble is, many parents themselves are having financial problems.

"We have a credit-driven society, and a lot of parents are significantly overleveraged, so they learn the lessons from their parents," Mr. Czarnecki said. "In way too many cases the teens pick up the habit of living off of more credit than they can afford."

Much of shoring up young people's financial habits goes back to when they're young and should be taught that money isn't limitless.

"Mom and Dad don't have an unlimited amount of money," Mr. Czarnecki said. "Every one of us has to make a decision as what we're going to spend our money on. Seldom can they get everything that they want."

The sooner young people learn this lesson, the better they'll be able to manage their life and their money.

Among the tools available to teach young people how to manage money is the PAYjr Visa Buxx developed by Dallas-based PAYjr Inc.

The card is a reloadable prepaid card designed just for teens. Parents can choose to electronically provide funds to the PAYjr Visa Buxx Card directly or through the use of allowances and chores their kids complete.

For example, the parent assigns a monetary value to a chore, the child tells the system when the chore is completed and PAYjr then pays the account. PAYjr keeps track of what's owed and what's been paid to the child.

The child can use the PAYjr Visa Buxx Card to make purchases and get cash anywhere the PAYjr Visa Buxx Card is accepted.

"Parents get to see where their teenager is spending their money and what type of transaction it was," said David Jones, chief executive of PAYjr. "Parents have complete control of where the money's going."

The cost to sign up for a card is $4.95, with a monthly $3.95 fee. It costs 50 cents each time you load the card with money.

But handing a teen a PAYjr card is not the end of the parents' responsibility.

As Cynthia Nevels, executive director of the Jr. Finance Literacy Academy Inc. in Dallas, says, it's crucial that financial education accompany use of the card and that children are taught that once they use up the funds on the card, that's it.

If they don't learn this lesson while they're young, they could be in a heap of trouble when they enter the working world. Bosses aren't keen on providing advances on paychecks, and Mom and Dad won't always be around to bail children out – nor should they if financial problems are a consequence of poor choices.

Teens have to learn to stand on their own financially.