[QUOTE=RC - Ryder,Nov 13 2007, 10:14 AM]She works 8 hour shifts every Sat/Sun during the school year at Panara for $7.50/hr - and loves her job.

 

Our son worked from the time he was 15. And yes he worked on weekends, as he was not that good a student that he could afford to work during the school week. He did partake in school activities and re-arranged his work schedule as needed if he had a school activity going on.

He wanted his license, a car and what ever kids that age want, and we weren't paying for it, it wasn't in our budget anyway.

We loaned him money along the way, I co-signed ONE loan for a car, and after that he was on his own. I'm sure it's nice to be able to give your kids all that you didn't have growing up, but there's no harm in letting them know they have to share the costs, as nothing in life is free.

John, your granddaughter sounds like a hard worker. She only gets to keep 10% of her pay? I hope she has a nice fat bank account....

 

I'm going to be looking for a part time job soon - where do I signup for $18 freakin' dollars per hour to hang holiday decorations?!!!

 

When I was a kid, I had to walk 12 miles to school, and it was uphill both ways.
Ok, I know, that was annoying.

If you want to know why "kids" are the way they are, ask their parents. The boomers and gen-xers that drive 100 miles a week taking Jimmy and Jane to soccer practice and softball clinics and gymnastics lessons and....

They are simply reacting to situations the way they have been taught. RC's grandkids will probably have very different value systems. One has been taught to value their ability to earn and the other probably hasn't figured that out yet, and maybe never will. There has been a paradigm shift in corporate culture that has accompanied this idea of catering to our children. Val showed it with the article that she linked, and I have personally seen on a corporate level (well not me personally, as I gave up working, but my wife who is still in the work force and works for a MAJOR banking concern.) Corporately there has been a move afoot for the past few years to cater to the needs of the younger worker. many corporations are giving sensitivity training regarding the culture of many (NOT ALL) younger workers.

***Disclaimer-the following is lifted from the training that is given to "older" employees, so that they understand the needs tof the recent college grads***

According to the consultants they value their personal time off and look at all positions as stepping stones to something better. They want time off paid for by the company to pursue charitable endeavors, and they feel that 4 weeks vacation is simply not enough.

I will not get into the entire boomerang kid thing, since I am childless, and if people want to continue to support their chilren well into their 30's (like three of my neighbors) that's their issue.

Bottom line, next time you want to understand why the Gen Ys and Millenials see the world so differently ask their parents, as you are what you learn works for you.

 

I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why this is a BAD thing. It also seems at odds with the idea that milleniuls aren't ambitious. At any rate, given that we are just entering the workplace, and have entry-level jobs, why WOULDN'T we expect to move up when we prove ourselves at our current level. I think people with this viewpoint realize that you need to EARN your next step, but given that, I think anyone who DIDN'T view their position as a stepping stone has a flawed viewpoint.

 

Wait a minute. So where does the other 90% of her earnings go? Surely her family does not need it since her father is a physician. Maybe her parents are investing it for her?

 

But I'm glad you said it, Zip.

Between this thread and the (moved) one about broken America, I'm reminded of conversations I overheard as a child, when the grandparents (and great-grandparents) were griping about how things were all going to hell in a handbasket. Why is it, they'd ask, that things can't be the way they were?

Sorry, folks, I'm not buying it. Not that I'm a big hip-hop fan, mind you, but I think all this is just normal generational evolution. HPH

 

Maybe the kids today are smarter than we were.

I worked harder than anyone I know. I started in a family business at 11 and worked all through Junior High, High School and College. Summers were 70-80 hour weeks, winters were 20-25 hour weeks (at a minimum), no days off, no time to be a kid. I don't remember ever being a kid, and when friends get together to share childhood experiences, I haven't a clue about what they're talking about. I never learned how to take time for myself or to slow down to enjoy life, but boy, did I have a work ethic. I paid for everything myself and really knew the value of money.

I still have that same work ethic. I'm always the first one in the office in the morning, and the last one to leave at night. Colleagues tell me that I work a 52 week tax season. I go to work before the sun comes up, and come home in the dark of night. I still have the old time work ethic.

And for all of that, I can't figure out how I'm better off than those of my friends who didn't work so hard, and don't have a work ethic. I'm comfortable, but so are they. I have a career, but so do they. Somehow, we all managed to get to the same place only I worked much harder to get there. I oftentimes think the joke was on me.

The kids today are much smarter than I (we) was. They understand what I (we) didn't. Hard work isn't special, or honorable or great, its just hard work. Don't confuse it for something it isn't.

 

Fast food here gets $11 to $15, depending on experience. My parents let me work from 15, but forced me to save 50% in a college fund. It was one of the best lessons I ever learned.

 

You're better for it, Rob.

Yes, my son does invest my granddaughters other 90% I don't agree with him on this, because why stifle motivation. He gives her 20 bucks a week allowance. Also, this has absolutely nothing to with his income.

I started working every day after school at age 14, doing dishes and dinner cleanup at a pancake house. My father's total donation to my 8 years of college was $20 in the spring of my second year. I bought my own car, gas and insurance. I came home 2 weeks after I first went to college to visit my girlfriend. My bedroom had been converted to a TV room. He didn't have to say a thing; I got the message loud and clear.
I was determined to be more enlightened as a parent, and I was. Times have changed and we have to change with it, but there still is no substitute for hands-on parenting and parents giving time of themselves to their kids, rather than just money.