I was at Pottery Barn Kids recently, and was amazed at the number of young families shopping at the UTC store. How can they afford $600 desks for their toddlers? I bought my first child’s crib for $20 at a consignment store, a $25 bunk bed that I painted at a thrift shop when the 2nd one came along. I didn’t have one of those pull-wagons until my 3rd kid. My kids didn’t have their own bedrooms until last year, and until then, had to at least double up. The oldest was 14. How many young families would be able to live like that?
On Bill Handel this morning (640 AM, 6-9 am), he talked about a new study showing middle class parents are reducing retirement savings to buy stuff for their kids. The stuff has gotten more expensive over the years: sports camps, high school trips, sports trips to faraway places, iPods, designer clothes, activities galore, prom, cell phones, …The problem is that parents are scrimping on responsible retirement savings and getting into bankruptcy over these purchases, and that kids have a sense of entitlement.
Delaying gratification and stamping out entitlement are so important to teach our youth.
I think young people had to struggle harder to save for things even 15 years ago. The age of credit has changed the problem of waiting/saving into worrying about how to pay all those debts.