Pocket money is so 1999
Nothing is as it used to be! Besides of being a knockdown argument, it’s also very true. Especially for the baby boomers and the generation X people in today’s society. Both of the generations grew up with TV being the biggest (new) disruptor of their spare time while growing up.
While the baby boomers still had to work with/for their parents, just because things worked that way and because it was considered the most normal thing in the world. It already was quite different for the gen X. They are to be considered the first generation that actually worked (for their parents) to earn some extra money to do “fun” stuff in their spare time. Fun stuff being going out, holidays, festivals, movies,…
Nowadays there is a severe difference between the children of both aforementioned generations. The offspring’s of the baby boomers grew up working weekends and holidays to earn some extra pocket money. They do so at home (mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, cleaning the cars) or for actual employees (bars, restaurants, factories). They are the first generation that actually exploited the “every good turn deserves another” methodology. Where their parents worked, because they where supposed to (and to avoid the occasional kick to the ass), their children expect a fair exchange for the things they do (€).
The Gen X’s offspring’s share other priorities. As they mostly have all the luxury they can imagine (TV, internet, personal computers, mobile (smart) phones, tablets,…) combined with a descent amount of monthly pocket money, they don’t need to work anymore. They have it all, all because of the over caring mentality of their parents. They want their kids to grow up with the least stress/issues/barriers and they’ll go a long way to achieve this. With all this pampering going on, it’s very understandable that this generation of children and parents would be confronted with a whole new range of “problems”.
- The kids spend loads of their time doing what THEY like (games, TV, internet,…)
- The kids don’t do anything around the house. Why would they actually work for their parents if there is nothing in return
- Parents have lost leverage to get their kids to actually do stuff (Educational spanking became a crime against humanity and the kids have and can do anything they can imagine)
All these complications compel parents into being more resourceful into finding solutions in the educating their children. Taking away the kids’ money is threat they live up to (anymore). This leaves them with few other choices as rewarding them with screen time.
This pay-with-a-screen methodology works out miraculously well. Taking away the screens from their kids is a lower threshold for the parents (they don’t feel like bad parents afterwards) and apparently is more acceptable for the children themselves.
Not being able to comment on the facebook updates of their friends and or watch their favorite show appears to be hard enough for the kids and soft enough for the parents. Children are willing to put in an extra effort to be connected; they accept the fact that they’ll have to do the dishes on a daily base to earn their Facebook time.
The question of course is: what do parents have to come up with next…?
