I was chatting with a friend of mine a few days ago. She was telling me about a friend of hers whose 16-year old girl is demanding that she goes to Peru during the December holidays with a group of friends. And the reason she wants to go, is to hangout with her friends.
Because the girl's parents are at their wits end to persuade her not to, my globe-trotting friend who has been to Peru was roped in to do the job. So her role was to describe that the place is very different from disinfected Singapore and hopefully the girl would change her mind. From the sounds of it though, the girl will still be going. To the tune of S$4,000 of her parents' money.
What I wonder about is, why couldn't the girl's parents just say no to her request? Someone should remind parents they HAVE and NEED to exercise their veto power when the situation warrants it. The facts are clear - the girl's 16, never travelled without her parents, she is not independent and does she even know *where* Peru is. I would've told her no, because, she obviously has not done her research and does not know what she's getting into and in addition, the bank of mum and dad does not fund expensive trips such as this.
And then there was another story of a kid who insisted his parents buy him a car when he got his driving licence. And guess what? His parents did, even though they can't afford a car for their own use.
These kids are making such demands because they don't know the value of money. They are so used to just getting whatever they have asked for that they don't differentiate between needs and wants. No wonder so many young people are snowed under with credit card debts!
So anyways, all these anecdotes just makes me more resolved to ensure my kids are financially responsible. I can't have them spending money they don't have because the consequences are too dire. It's a lesson you don't want them to learn firsthand.
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