03.29.2010
In yesterday’s Business section of the LA Times (and yes, I still read the actual newspaper), there was an article about teens and shopping, and how merchants have noticed a surge in teens’ spending again which gives them hope that things are picking up economically. Teens, of course, are the “ideal consumer” because they are “unhampered by debt, bills and mortgages, they spend freely and impulsively [and] unlike their time-strapped parents, they hit the malls frequently and stay longer.” [1] And let’s not forget about the pressures of being a teen and how owning the latest album by the hottest recording artist or band, or the latest video game is of extreme importance. Oh, to be a teen again….NOT.
I understand the state of our economy and I understand that without consumers there are no businesses and without business we have no economy. I get that. But what’s frustrating to me is the extent to which these businesses prey on unsuspecting teens. There are pressures that teens face and businesses bank on the insecurities of teens to get them through their fiscal quarter. If you convince the buyer that they are nothing without a product, they will buy. We’ve all fallen victim to this mentality and we’ve all had impulse buys only later realizing that it probably wasn’t the wisest investment. My purse collection is certainly a give-away that I’m not immune to this. But I wonder what are we exactly teaching our youth? Not to mention the economical pressure on parents to keep up with their kids’ desires. One of the things that scared me terribly about the notion of being a parent is that when I was teaching, I would almost on a daily basis see my students with new, expensive pens, pencils, bags, etc. because a few people had the item(s) initially and now everyone had to have it. It may seem petty on my part, but it’s something I noticed and it scares me how much parents felt pressured to indulge their kids.
Oh, and about teaching…who is the ultimate teacher in this, and all, equations? The Parent(s). I’m certainly not going to ignore the role parents play in this. The fact that teens are more prone to impulse buys, I think, is hugely the parents’ fault. Next to the article I cited earlier is the headline “Savings is topic of ‘the talk’”.[2] This column is all about parents who discuss with their kids the importance of savings and require that their kids put away a part of their weekly allowance. This is fantastic! One parent who is $25K in credit card debt, has two mortgages on his home and a $12K loan for a travel trailer said that he’s determined that his daughter not make the same mistakes he did. It’s kind of interesting that when one is in dire straits planning becomes a central issue but when times are good no one pays attention. It is exactly during the “good times” when one should be careful. It’s along the lines of the tortoise and the hare, I think. When you get too pompous and don’t worry at all, you’re going to get caught off guard with the least expected result.
Rob and I often discuss how our schools don’t teach basic economics. Yes, your senior year of high school you’re required to take Government one semester and Econ the next, but I never learned basic check balancing, how to fill out a tax form, or basic budgeting. I think these things are just as important as knowing how our government and economy are run. In fact, they might be of slightly more importance. I know some schools have a Life Skills class but knowing from my mom who had to teach that class to 9th graders a few times, these basic economic topics are not covered. Parents and schools need to work together to educate their children. It’s not all on the schools’ shoulders and it’s not all on the parents’. I scoff at those who don’t agree with the notion that “It takes a village to raise a child” but, dammit, it does.
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