Just something I wrote for the school paper that I think applies to the world.
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Let’s face it—we’re spoiled. A good percentage of us get allowances and incredible gifts for birthdays and holidays. According to MuniNetGuide the national median income for a US family is $52,024, but in Brown County it’s considerably higher: $63,230. Since our families have a larger income, more of that is spent on us. For raising a child up to seventeen years, a dual-parent family will spend around $170,460 (data from Thomson Reuters.) This includes EVERYTHING: education, clothes, health, clothing, housing items, transportation, and miscellaneous. (Aka: birthdays, holidays, the ‘hey, can I borrow some cash to go to Dairy Queen?”)
My point is that our parents spend a huge amount of money on us. Around five percent of their income goes to us each year; excluding college funds they save up for us. This is only an average amount for all the people in Brown County too. In every average, there are outliers that mess things up, so in actuality some of us are getting even more than five percent of the income. (Yes, there are some who get less too.) Plus, many of us have siblings which get five percent of it themselves too, so families like mine with three kids spend around fifteen percent of their annual income.
I can understand the whole clothing, health, housing, education, and food needs. But do our parents really need to spend a whole ton of money on a car for us? Think about it. The more money they spend on you the less goes to your college education. Most people suffer from large debts from college once they graduate. Yeah—I get to drive a car to school sometimes, but that’s because my dad doesn’t work anymore and my parents don’t need two cars all the time. Cars are expensive, and I know that some of you had to pay half for it or/and the gas and insurance. There are better uses for that money—it could have paid for a year or two of tuition or room and board instead. It’s important to think about the future consequences of getting a car. College students are poor. I hear about it constantly from my two older brothers that aren’t enjoying the lack of green in their pockets.
Another thing is the expensive clothes. Yes, we all need clothes—but do we really need the expensive kind? Often I hear girls chat about their $100+ jeans from Buckle, while I’m sitting in the jeans I got from Maurices for about thirty bucks. Thirty bucks is still considerably expensive. I understand if people don’t agree with this, but paying for a pair of jeans myself drains my wallet quickly, if not immediately.
Allowance is a big contributor of our spoiled-ness. It allows many of us to go through high school and not learn what the meaning of a dollar truly is. Plus, some people get bonuses for getting good grades, which is great for encouragement, but it should be up to the child to want to get good grades so they can get into a better college and have a better life. I never had an allowance and when I’d ask my parents why, I would be told the chores I do go towards my room, meals, and clothes they provide for me. It seemed stupid at first, but now that I look at it I’m glad they don’t give me an allowance. I had to really earn the money for the bike I wanted when I was ten, instead of being handed it for just cleaning up my room sometime during the day.
There are plenty of things I can write about, but the point will always stay the same. We live in a spoiled society and—that’s it. Our parents cater to our every need and more, so it’s about time to thank them—I’m not talking about the wimpy ‘Thank you.” I’m talking about doing something nice for them, like not complaining when they ask for a favor, or fixing dinner for them for a change. For the people that do try to pay for things themselves and have/are looking for a job, you deserve a cookie.
