Too Much Dollars and Not Enough Sense?

Living in a wealthy community I have been afforded the good fortune of meeting many wealthy people as well as their children. At first glance the children, some teenagers, seem well mannered and polite in most cases but once you begin to delve a little deeper you start to see the roots of something. Something missing that is, something that you know is going to cost them dearly someday and regardless of their parent's wealth, only they are going to pay for it.

I am not stating that this is true for all children born to wealth of course, just most of the one's I've met. I'm not stating that it's even better to raise your children in poverty but I do believe that children who know what struggle is come out of adolescence with more sense. It's a fine line that would be hard to distinguish amongst any economic class however because of the magnitude of issue that could contribute to a child's downfall later in life regardless of class.

John Lennon was often referred to and wrote a song called, "Working Class Hero" and I think that is a pretty good way to look at it. Someone who has to work and does it really is a hero and working through life's problems with your children by your side can only help them later in life. I think a key to becoming a working class hero is to having parent there for you everyday raising you themselves and doing the work, laying that foundation for a reality that may not be easily available to wealthy children.

Many of the children I know are raised in a semi-reality world where they have housekeepers clean their houses and nannies care for them daily and they spend their weekends with their parents doing fun and exciting outings. Week after week they are shielded from a reality that will need to face someday which is hard work and delayed gratification. These children do not know what it is like not to get something they really want. Sure their parents tell them no all the time but if push comes to shove and they really want it and the parents know it then they will get it. It may sound like the American Dream but it may actually be handicapping them as adults someday. Sure they work hard at school and may get good grades but they also live in a gated community where life looks a little like a neighborhood right off a Universal Studios movie lot. As long as they don't venture far off from their parents lives then that may be hunky dory but it will not be fulfilling and most young adults want to live on their own and on their own terms. This is where many run into trouble.

Once children who are sheltered from middle class or even lower class realities become adults and venture out into the real world so to speak they are still living in fantasy land where they think things will go exactly as they planned and they will get what they want. They may lack the work ethic and even the likability gene needed in society. Once others know or pick up on their spoiled past they loose respect and may become a punchline. This is where some of them may hit a rough patch and not know how to land on their feet with out parents to guide them. Even if their parents help land them a great job or they go and work for their parents, all offspring should pay their dues to earn respect. Without the respect that most everyone longs for they will continue to falter throughout life.

According to a study done of affluent youths and parents in the U.S., called "Growing Up Wealthy", one in five wealthy teens admitted that they deserved to be rich because their parents were rich and 25% said they should be able to buy anything they want. Although the study did find them to be more responsible then their tabloid peers, there were several examples of the rich kid syndrome within the study including that only 21% of wealthy teens actually put any of their money into savings.

We do have plenty of examples of responsible and down to earth affluent adults who grew up wealthy, while the majority of spoiled adults in my community seem to be spawning their own spoiled demons. I hope that they will not fall prey to the ridiculous behaviors we have come to expect from the upper class but I know that my kids will be kept as far away just in case.