http://biz.yahoo.com/pfg/e05kids/art011.html Is Your Kid's Greatest Fear About Money The Possibility of Having to Support You? A Suze Orman exclusive Even your eight-year-old might say yes! About a year ago, I was in a suburb of Chicago visiting a lab school there and speaking about money to a classroom of eight-year-olds. This school was expensive to attend, about $5,000 or more a year. So you would think that parents paying that kind of tuition for an eight-year-old would not have money worries. Which is why I was so shocked by what happened. There were about 20 kids in front of me, and I asked them a simple question: What is your greatest fear when it comes to money? The parents in the room rolled their eyes when I asked this question; I could tell they were most likely thinking, "Suze, have you lost it? Second-graders don't worry about money." But one sweet little girl raised her hand and said the following: "My greatest fear is that one day I will have to support my parents." The room came to a total stop. What did she just say? I asked her why she felt that way and she said that almost every night she hears Mommy saying to Daddy that if he doesn't stop spending all their money on electronic gadgets they were going to end up in the poorhouse with no one to support them. And that wasn't the end of it. I looked around at the rest of the children, assuming the little girl who spoke up was a rare case, and I asked the other kids if they could relate. One by one, they started raising their little hands to say something similar. Sad as it is, this is a very true story. The Janet Jackson Financial Affair The uproar over the Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident is a clear example of how worked-up we all get when we think our kids are being exposed to something improper on television or at the movies. And I also know how much concern you have that your kids hang out with good company. So let me ask you something. If it's not okay for Janet Jackson to expose her breast on national TV, is it okay for you to expose your children to lousy money management habits? Think about it for minute. Which one is going to affect them the most? Watching you running up huge bills you can't afford, absorbing your anxiety about the future, is sure to damage their development in ways that, pardon the pun, expose Nipplegate as a relative non-issue. Kids are sponges. Just look at my lab school experience. They are watching, and feeling, every move you make. Sure, plenty of it is subconscious, but you'd better believe you are the biggest influence in their life. You are creating their financial DNA with every money move you make.
A friend of my said for the first time he aprecciated his parents lifelong "cheapness" when he realized he would never have to kick in to support them. It's going to big problem for many.
Hey this is not Sweden. The Gov't takes care of the parents there. Michael B. "My greatest fear is that one day I will have to support my parents."
Man, how did we grow up without video games, the Internet, organized sports, extravagant birthday parties, and weekend sleepovers? I want to believe that there are still parents out there who are not slaves to their kids' lives. My parents used to kick us out of the house to find our way in the world -- play sports, camp in the woods, ride our bikes to the beach. We would stage mock Olympics, toboggan down the power line paths, etc. Our parents took us on several cross-country trips in a cramped Cox tent trailer. It was a life of adventure and imagination. My sister is a grade-school teacher. She says many of today's kids are a bunch of whiners now, self-centered little sh*ts who need the latest pair of Nikes or want to star on that commercial-laden stream of trash MTV. But as harrytrader's post reveals, no wonder. Much of American life is centered around the cult of acquisition, the ultimately empty pursuit of material things. Whenever we walk into a house where the television is blaring in the living room, we extinguish any hopes of having intelligent conversation. I traveled on this new airline Song Air the other day. In their desire to entertain you, the airline decided to give the flight safety instructions in the voice of Speedy Gonzales while an obnoxious salsa beat blasted in the background. Why do we have to constantly be entertained? I enjoy the silence and just want to read my book. Even the furniture store up here decided they had to put in a "motion experience" ride with a Dixieland jazz band. Will everyone please shut the fuck up? As we are finding out in Iraq, life is not supposed to be Disney World. I have been very blessed to have been a trader these past ten years, but still clean the house on weekends to remind myself that hard work in and of itself is worthy. If necessary, I would be a janitor and take pride in making everything spotless. Life is not about eliminating the discomfort, the uncertainty, and the pain. I am not relieved that someone else's child is fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq. My grandfather's disfigured neck reminds me that all life must be treated with respect and dignity. He saw many starving people during his 2 Pacific tours, and he is absolutely ashamed by the casual disregard for food in this country -- especially the appalling gorging contests where idiots down pounds of butter or shove hot dogs down their throats. A financial reckoning would not be unwelcome; perhaps America can return to simpler, happier times. Maybe then we'll be able to wash away our current collective fantasy and come to grips with the real world. Regards, PTR
Where in Sweden? It was working, but it is not anymore. There are lots of bad examples how old people that should be treated with respect are first forgotten by their children and second by the government. It is just a shame.