Teenagers and the concept of money
Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
When I come home for Thanksgiving break (or any break for that matter), it always ends up being bittersweet. It’s great to see family and friends after a long time at school, but I get so annoyed sometimes.
Out of “the bag,” I’ve chosen the concept of money as it relates to teenagers. Teenage girls, specifically. I have two younger sisters, 18 an 17 years old. Hannah, the 18-year-old, has a job and is currently going to a community college. Abby, the other one, is a junior in high school and has no job.
Hannah works at a funeral home, where she’s serving as an “intern” because she plans to go to school to be a mortician. She gets plenty of hours, and I think she’s really learned to appreciate the money she receives for her hard and long hours there. Previously, she’s worked at HyVee and didn’t have the greatest experience. She’s since moved to this job.
Abby, however, doesn’t have a job. I recall when I was 16 years old and she was 12 – she’d harass me for not having a job since “all the other kids my age had jobs and I’m not cool like them.” I soon became employed at Fareway and never heard about it again. But now, it seems that she’s at the point where she’s requesting money from my parents all the time (and by requesting, I mean harassing), and not appreciating the fact that they spent time earning that money and that she was probably going to spend it some careless manner.
Today, for example, while my dad was sitting at the computer, Abby spend probably ten to fifteen minutes asking if they could go buy Rock Band, a video game, that sells for nearly $200. My dad, who still gives her some kind of an allowance, repeatedly said it was ridiculous. She persisted for a while before giving up and stomping away. Unfortunately, an incident like this is a pretty calm one.
I think Abby once searched for a job but was turned down and hasn’t tried since then. She refuses to start a new job search or attempt to make money any other way. I also learned that she’s been trying to get Hannah’s boyfriend to buy her alcohol (with who’s money? I ask). Her priorities seem to be a lot different than mine as a junior in high school: no job, money from parents, alcohol vs. job, little money from parents, and not alcohol. But I digress.
Will she get a job and start relying less on my parents? When will she get out of this fantasy “live off of my parents” world? Will it be easy? I don’t know.