Chip NoVaMac said:
Having grown up and still living in the Greater DC area, I have a different experience and view on life and living. In my area we have two "over achieving" (meaning IMO that material goods are more important than quality time spent) parents, that due to job demands, shower their children with money and goods instead of attention.
While most of the teenagers I know work for their money and don't rely exclusively on handouts, there are exceptions, so I know what you mean about parents who give their children material things instead of attention. In my area, most of these kids are doctor's children. These kids act like brats and always expect to get anything they want. They will brag about their new iPod or any other electronic device if they find out you have an older one. Of course that's not to say all doctors around here spoil their kids, but it's pretty common. I plan to become a doctor one day, and when I eventually have a family, I'm going to try as hard as possible to raise my kids normally and keep them from becoming spoiled.
As for what you say about cars, I know what you mean about that too. I do have a car, but it's a twice hand me down car (was my grandfather's, then my brother's and then mine). I'm very happy that I'm able to drive to school, and so are my parents who had to drive and pick me up from school my freshman and sophmore years. Why didn't I ride the bus? Well, after riding the bus for a few weeks in the beginning of my freshman year, there were various incidents where pot (in a tic tac box) and alcohol (in a water bottle) were offered to me. One girl on my bus even refused to get off the bus because she said someone was waiting to kill her. Luckily these kids were not from my neighborhood. Calls to the transportation department solved nothing, so my mom decided no more bus for me. I also participate in lots of afterschool extracurriculars, so my parents usually had to pick me up in the afternoon anyways. Oh and by the way, my bus was the one that gained nation attention when a fight between the bus driver and a kid was caught on tape.
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Many of the cars in my school parking lot are new or almost new, and I really don't see the point of teenagers having nice new cars. First of all, you're likely to crash it, and second, even if you did save up your money for it, why not open up a savings account instead and let it sit for a few years. Get yourself a new car after college when you'll really need it.
When it was time for me to drive, my parents told me that I could either have my brother's old car (he worked at Dominos and saved up for a Tacoma) and participate in these group trips a language arts teacher at my high school organizes, or I could get a mid to late 90s Toyota or Honda and not go on any trips. I thought about it, and realized a car does nothing but get me from point A to point B, and decided I would much rather go on cool trips. I haven't regretted my decision at all. Sure, my 1991 Cressida is one of the older cars in the school parking lot, but I've been to some amazing places in the past three years (New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands and Russia), and had some experiences that I'll never forget, like being a nose's length away from a DaVinci at the Hermatige in St. Petersburg.
Wow, just realized I digressed a bit there.
Anyways, I just also wanted to say that I think most teens don't realize the virture of saving. Obviously the ones here who have paid for their computers themselves do, as Macs definitely aren't cheap. I find it quite alarming the number of people in the U.S. today who see nothing wrong with using credit, aka money they don't have. I really hope to be able to manage my money like my parents when I get older. Whenever they use the credit card it's only if they're ordering something online where you can't use a debit card, and my mom always pays the credit bill right away. They also choose to save their money instead of spending it on things they don't need. That's not to say they don't enjoy themselves occasionally, my mom likes to get jewelry and art glass (at least both things only appreciate in value) and my dad recently bought an old Willy Jeep to restore. However, their main priority is saving money for me for my college education and of course their impending retirement.
Anyways, I just realized how long my post is, sorry about that, I can ramble on and not realize just how much I've written.
So lets get back to the original topic and see more setups!
Bloo Ice said:
my dad is about 2. Hunt, hunt some more, and hunt a little longer, peck is his typing method. That is, if he can figure out how to turn it on.
That sounds exactly like my dad (and to a certain extent, my mom too). The funny thing is, my dad was in the army about 30 years ago and he claims he was really good at typing then. His main duty was typing up documents, but it's so hard to imagine typing at anything faster than 10 wpm.
