Quote:
Originally Posted by sclitheroe
I'm surprised someone who is 35 (the author of the article) considers themselves part of Generation Me, and not Gen-X. I'm in the same age bracket and can see big differences in attitudes, outlooks, and challenges between myself and younger co-workers who are 30 or under - while there are lots of similarities of course, I definitely wouldn't lump myself into their generation like the author is doing.
One thing that nobody seems to address in these articles is the impact of people having children later in life - it seems like it would be easier to spoil a kid, pave their way, and over-inflate their ego and expectations when you are firmly in your peak earning years, sitting on property and investments that are more fully matured, larger credit rating, etc. It's likely that Generation Me is growing up having seen their parents never struggle or outwardly work hard to make ends meet.
Fortunately, my kids will be spared the existential dilemma of being handed a BMW before they are 30... sigh...
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I agree with you, but isn't that onus on the parents regardless of their financial situation. I am the product of a wealthy family and our Dad certainly could've bought us BMW's/Mercedes/etc.. for us at 16 and chose not to. Instead we worked to pay for our own cars and when we reached the age of 15-17 it became Dad pays for essentials (house, food, education, hockey equipment etc..) but if we want fancy clothes and phones etc, we pay ourselves.
Sometimes it didn't sit well with 17 year old me that I was driving my POS while friends had $30 000+ cars, but it gave me a sense of pride that what I had was MINE and earned by me. And now at 22 about to graduate and getting my foot in the door of my chosen industry, I look back at how my Dad treated us and I fully appreciate him teaching us the value of money. Spoiled, bratty kids are the result of them being treated that way by their parents. I have known many of them and seen many of them crash and burn when they realize that Daddy isn't paying for their crap anymore. So it IS fortunate that your kids will not be exposed to that type of thinking, as it is a disincetive to things for yourself.
And to your point about people having kids at older ages; It's true that this is happening, partially because it's not practical to get married, much less have kids, before your late 20's now. While most of our parents were getting married in their early 20's, because they could realistically support it at that age, but that isn't the case anymore. But arren't most parents in their prime earning years (35+) by the time their kids are old enough to understand the concept of money anyways. I mean even if they have a kid at age 20, theyre still into theyre mid-30's by the time theyre kids can be affected by that type of behaviour.