CNN/Money with a story that should surprise no one.
Inculcating teens with a Keeping Up with the Joneses mentality is going to drive us into the ground. It’s not a generational gap, now that I’ve joined the ranks of the untrustworthy over-30 crowd. This is purely about debt and economics. Teen overspending is going to translate into bad habits as adults and possibly ruin us as an economy.
I managed to escape this as a teen by knowing that no amount of spending was going to make me cool at prep school, and that my resources were vastly limited compared to those of my peers with doctor-lawyer mommies and daddies. Yes, I did crave trendy Guess jeans, but I also took my style cue from Molly Ringwald and shopped thrift stores during my free periods wandering the ghetto. I miss my old vintage lace sweaters from Gimbels. I bought them for $2!
Tell kids ‘no’. The boundary setting will be good for them.
EDIT: Sorry, the bad link is fixed!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
A certain amount of spoiling is fine, but I’m referring to lavishing love, affection, praise, etc. NOT credit cards, Sidekicks, Blackberry’s, Marc Jacobs bags and $200 jeans in every color. BF and I were channel surfing this weekend and came upon MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16″ and it was car wreck time. We just couldn’t look away! It sickens me how much these teens think they’re entitled to, one even went as far as saying “YOUR job, Mom is to give me the party of my dreams and pay for it, not to bitch about the cost!.” WTF?!! Perhaps MTV creatively edits the segments, or requests that the teens act over the top, but I have a sneaking suspicion that most of it is true. And it doesn’t stop there — after the extravagant party, they gather outside for the piece de resistance — a brand new Jag/BMW/Mercedes/Lexus! At 16 years old! Fast forward 10 years to major debt and marriages they enter into based on their spouse’s net worth.
Thanks for letting me vent
J
The economy that affluenza built…I’m glad that I knew the real deal years ago. Good post.
You know, I see comments and articles about this stuff all the time. What I don’t see are kids actually acting or treated this way with the people I now, which is very refreshing. Brother-in-laws’s family seems a bit materialistic about stuff but even they seem to be keeping their trendy teens within reasonable lines.