Dad, Can You Really Afford Your Teenager?
June 15, 2001 -- Father's Day cards sport some pretty typical jokes, with the punch lines often asking Dad for money in one way or another. But these days, fathers aren't laughing over the pressure they face to dole out the dollars on their kids.
Mirroring the general rise in consumerism over the last few generations, teenagers are spending more money than ever. Just last year, 31.6 million teens spent $155 billion, according to the Northbrook, Ill.,-based market research group Teenage Research Unlimited. Much of that money, of course, comes from parents.
Shocked at how much money kids spend? Maybe you haven't checked the price tags lately on some of the younger generation's must-haves.
Tickets to the *NSYNC concert at Chicago's Soldier Field this weekend could set you back more than $75 a pop. That's still cheaper than the latest Air Jordan shoe from Nike, which goes for $160 a pair. A Sony Play Station 2: $300.
To some, such extravagant spending on the notoriously fickle young might seem outrageous. Why do some parents give in?
Buckling Under Pressure, Guilt
One factor is surely the sheer power of marketing through mass media. According to the group Adbusters, teenagers are exposed to an estimated 3,000 advertisements each day. Combine the ads with programming itself, like the fashion-, music- and skin-filled shows on MTV, and you've got a barrage of messages telling kids what they should own if they want to fit in.
"The pressures on parents today are enormous," says Tom Vogele, a single father of twin 18-year-old girls in Newport Beach, Calif. "I truly believe it is harder today to raise children without spoiling them, not because parents are less capable or lazy, but because so many forces are working against me."
Many working parents probably compensate by spending money on their kids, says Timothy Marshall, an associate professor of developmental psychology at Christopher Newport University in Virginia. For some, there is probably some guilt involved in not spending enough time at home.
