Collegiate Times

This is fairly sad. I know that parents want the best for their children and feel the need to do whatever they possibly can for them. This is perfectly understandable, but I believe that it has gone way too far, and the fact that it takes an economic meltdown that debilitates the United States and erases millions of people's savings, investments, bank accounts and jobs to actually say no to privileged children is quite ridiculous.

What does this really mean, though? Nothing. I guess that 20 years of good fortune has led parents to think that their financial situation would stay pretty much consistent, and the cash crunch got the better of them. My parents experienced this almost 15 years ago when my mom lost her job. When a family's budget goes from over $100,000 a year to less than $30,000, it is quite unimaginable. Your standard of living is completely pulled out from underneath of you and the only way to continue is to move on.

I had to be said no to -- quite often actually -- and it has done me well, and the teenagers today do not seem to know what money is. The only way to reverse this is to simply tell them there are going to be cutbacks and you will have to sacrifice just as much as we do.

I was surprised by some of the teenager's reactions, though. They seem as though they actually care about helping their parents in this difficult situation, which is quite relieving, by agreeing to a lower spending limit, shopping at lower brand stores and helping out with household chores to earn their allowance. This is how it should be.

The value of a child growing up with responsibility is the greatest gift a parent could possibly give to his or her child, and instead of a teenager entering a completely new world after graduating high school and moving on to college or right into the workforce, they will actually realize that the world just isn't something in Google Earth. The responsibility that my friends and I have learned while we were teenagers is priceless, and I wouldn't trade making food for a bunch of tourists 40 or 50 hours a week when I was barely able to work for anything.

But there's nothing anyone can do about a spoiled child except to say no and contain the fits of rage only selfish children can have.

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