Were you spoiled by your parents? How did you turn out?

[JEDI]

From this THREAD.

my parents provided everything for me and my sister. when i mean everything, i mean college tuition to first car (used). they were 50/50 in us surviving in the real world.

i was sensible. i didnt want to drive a new car because i would be too nervous of getting in an accident on day 1. but i didnt give a damn for a used car. (and that '93 sentra lasted me 200k miles. ) i NEVER had any credit card debt. and i couldnt wait to get out of the house and live on my own. 2 years after i grauduated, i bought a house.

my sister on the other hand is 30 and still lives w/my parents. she dropped her last car because it "looked old." so she bought a new loaded honda accord EX for $25k. She could have just repainted the old car and use the rest of the $ to move out. oh, she also has $15k in credit card debt. there's no way she';ll survive on her own. (but i think she's finally getting the picture now after i REALLY bitched at her when she turned 30 about getting her act together. she's finally saving in her 401k, and put all of her bonus $ to paying her credit cards. she's down to 10k now.)

i have no idea what went wrong w/her. we were both taught the same values.

How about you?

 

[jadinolf]

I was the oldest of 6 kids.

Definitely not spoiled/

 

[JEDI]

bump

 

[mrlayance]

Spoiled rotten

Atleast I think I was. I am doing just fine.

 

[Ylen13]

ask me in 10 years

 

[Mallow]

I didn't have many hardships growing up but I was by no means spoiled. My parents provided many things for me (ie. cloths, car, tuition) but if I want to go on trips or if I want luxury things I must pay for them myself. I am very appreciative and well adjusted. I am extremely money smart and a little tight

 

[Ender]

I guess your sister is superficial and enjoys pretending that she's rich when, infact, she lives at home with her parents after 30 years and is in credit card debt.

 

[Mister T]

parents tried to give me everything they could while I was growing up - we were typical middle class.

Now I am 24, work on wall street, make more money than both parents combined, they STILL try to give me money whenever I see them. My sister (22), who is a bum and has no job, has effectively been cut-off by my parents.

Bottomline, my parents know I bust my ass and I never ask them for anything, while my sister is a moocher

 

[igowerf]

My parents are paying for all of my tuition, housing, food, etc, but I think it has to do with Chinese culture. My parents haven't bought me a car, but they might when I get a real job off campus. They might be spoiling me, but they see it as their obligation to their children. My younger brother will probably get the same once he graduates high school.
Basically, my parents are willing to pay for anything that helps my brother and me get started in life.

I haven't really had a hard time living on my own, but that's mainly because I have no problems with money or rent. I'll have a steady job starting in the fall as one of the webmasters for UCSD's associated students website so I plan to pay for my own food, utilities, and part of the rent. I won't make enough to pay much more than that.

 

[fitzhue]

wow this is wierd i was just thinking about this last night when i was going to bed. my parents do provide a lot of things for me. im going to college in the fall and they are paying for most of it. i finally got off my ass this last summer before college and got myself a job. they're offering to buy me a new car for college and i refused, saying that i really don't need it. i can get around just fine without a car at college. in short, im really trying to break away from my parents providing many things for me (although i wouldn't say i am spoiled by any means). i'm just reassesing what's important in life and i would rather do things myself. im going to have a job working the in cafeteria down at U of I in addition to all my CompE classes. i know its going to be tough, but at the same time i think it will good for me.

 

[guapo337]

parents taught me the value of buying things with my own money. i buy everything with my own money. they wont buy me a car, i must buy one myself. i pay insurance and i dont even own a car, i just have my license. i am paying for my school trip to scotland. i paid when i went to japan. i cant think of anything large in the past few years they have bought for me. they dont charge me rent, or money to pay for food. they pay for my brother and sister to go to 30k/year college, and in two years, they'll do the same for me.

im a good kid.

 

[guapo337]

Originally posted by: Mallow
I didn't have many hardships growing up but I was by no means spoiled. My parents provided many things for me (ie. cloths, car, tuition) but if I want to go on trips or if I want luxury things I must pay for them myself. I am very appreciative and well adjusted. I am extremely money smart and a little tight

exactly like me, cept for the car.

 

[SithSolo1]

I am one of the most spoiled kids on the planet and I do believe I will fail in the really world.

They bought me:

A truck at the age of 16: brand new, ~$30K
The result: I just turned 20 and I have yet to get my license. I am just scared to death that I will get in a wreck and damage the car.

They pay for all my tuition, my apartment(I have 3 roommates), the apartment's entire power bill, 70% of the food that we eat, part of the rest of the bills, and I get ~$500 a month in spending cash.
The result: I am jobless and have absolutely no inclination to get one.

I have no clue what I want to do after college and can't seem to find a major to suit me.

The only thing that I have actually paid for is my computer.(I had a small job in HS and used all my money from it.)

 

[BD2003]

My parents never spoiled me. I was always the poor kid in school, wearing the same jeans every day, on the line for free lunch. Buy me a car? No way, they cant even afford more than a $2000 used car for themselves. I knew my dad had more money than he was letting on, but at the time as a teenager all I saw it was as him holding back. Cause of that, I had a really sh*tty teen life, its not so fun when you cant even afford to go to the movies every now and then. I couldnt even get a job till I was 18, but when I turned I finally did, and started buying everything for myself. It took me a few years to get over buying everything I can just cause I could cause I never could before (lol chew on that), but now I have the savers mentality.

I did have half my college costs paid for though, I paid the rest myself out of pocket. So I guess you could say Im the total opposite of spoiled, because I cant say I really care too much about material things. Life is about more than that, and growing up without them has shown me that. Even though I had jack sh*t, I was still happy, and now that I can afford all the things I want, I'm all the better for it.

And then I finally find out how much money my dad had been hiding when he passed and I nearly faint. Lets just say all those years of not having sh*t will eventually come back around with some MAJOR interest. Wont have to work for a couple years, maybe decades, but I will anyway. So basically I'm the total opposite of spoiled, all the better for it, and in the future (hopefully not too soon), I can afford to be spoiled.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

I was an only child so I was deffenitely a spoiled brat. The first couple years I was on my own I was really screwed. The last couple of years I've pretty much grown up and learned to act like an adult for the most part though. I'm 22 now btw. To be honest I wouldn't change any of that really. I think I learned more from my mistakes that someone who's always done it the right way. Plus being spoiled was never really a bad thing

 

[Trygve]

Originally posted by: JEDI

i have no idea what went wrong w/her. we were both taught the same values.

Hard to say. As a counterpoint, I'd saved my own "college fund" for years, though the guy my mother was married to at the time I finished high school had the idea that if I just loaned him the money I had, then I might get more financial aid (since I wouldn't be reporting my college money) and he also sold me his car (at blue book) when he got a company car (but he wouldn't give me the title; said I'd have lower insurance payments that way). Then they split up, he took the car and, of course, I never saw the money again. So, I worked two jobs during college, had to pay for a car twice, and when I lived at my mother's house, I paid rent.

Later I found out that my sister and my brothers all had their tuition paid for, got their car expenses and living expenses paid for, and even got extra spending money while they were in college. Hmmmm.

However, everybody turned out fine. Everybody's self-supporting, owns a house, all that sort of stuff. None of the kids have ever had problems with drugs, alcohol, or the law. So, at least in this case, how much support our parents provided didn't have much effect on the eventual results.

 

[HokieESM]

My parents tried NOT to make things about money. They had a reasonable amount--they were middle class when I was in elementary school, but through some surprising promotions, they were pretty much "upper-middle" class by high school. They provided my clothes, my first car (their 12 year old car--they just didn't "trade in" when they got a new one), and my living expenses. But ALL of that was provided that I demonstrated I could act responsibly. And not just the "be home at 11 every night and do all of your homework"--but making the right ethical decisions when presented. Because that's what they felt was important--doing the "right" thing, not being selfish, and making sure that my word meant something when given.

Now, it did turn out for the best, financially--my undergrad degree was completely paid for by scholarship, I bought myself a new car (a Civic) that has lasted me through grad school, and my graduate studies have actually paid me enough money that I'm self-sufficient (although, they did keep me on their medical insurance for the first three years).

When I'm a parent, my GOAL is not to pound "the value of a dollar" into my kids' heads--its to teach them to be an ethical person. If I can succeed in that, maybe they won't put a dollar sign on everything and realize that *gasp* some things are more important than money--and will live their life accordingly.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: fitzhue
wow this is wierd i was just thinking about this last night when i was going to bed. my parents do provide a lot of things for me. im going to college in the fall and they are paying for most of it. i finally got off my ass this last summer before college and got myself a job. they're offering to buy me a new car for college and i refused, saying that i really don't need it. i can get around just fine without a car at college. in short, im really trying to break away from my parents providing many things for me (although i wouldn't say i am spoiled by any means). i'm just reassesing what's important in life and i would rather do things myself. im going to have a job working the in cafeteria down at U of I in addition to all my CompE classes. i know its going to be tough, but at the same time i think it will good for me.

Good for you! breaking away from parent's $ is the 1st step in surviving on your own.

 

[Alienwho]

Spoiled? Yes. Brat? No.

I've never had to pay for anything [big] my entire life. When i turned 16 I got my dads old 94 nissan pickup truck. Nothing special, but a ride none the less. When I turned 17 he bought me a 1992 Subaru SVX. Sweet car and I am still in love with it. My dad paid/paying for everything in college that my scholarship didn't cover, which is only housing.

But at this same time, I've worked hard my entire life. All through high school I worked as a web developer, and since I didn't need to use that money on myself and worthless crap in general I got a hefty chunk of change in the bank ready for the future.

I am 19 now and I think I am a well adjusted individual. The other day I was home and I had no change and was going to grab a burger so I asked my dad if I could steal 5 bucks from him. He said all he's got are hundreds and threw a couple at me. I said all I want is a burger and gave the money back and dug up some quarters. My dad is awesome and the more he wants to give me the less I want to take.

 

[PoPPeR]

Compared to the white kids that I go to school with, no i'm not spoiled. Compared to ATOT's standards, yes I'm spoiled. I can't say how I turned out yet because I'm just about to enter college.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: jadinolf
I was the oldest of 6 kids.

Definitely not spoiled/

Same, but oldest of 5.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

No, but i believe my somewhat hard life made me a better person than those whiny spoiled brats.

That's exactly it. I'm not a greedy, materialistic, selfish fvcking BRAT like those who grew up with everything and weren't taught the difference. The only things that I had paid for me were a house over my head, food and clothes for my body, and the cost of private school to keep me out of the crap they call public school around here.

I think that I was spoiled to some degree, though. I had a mother who made next-to-nothing and worked that much harder as a single parent to raise me with very strong morals and ethics. She somehow managed to buy a little house in a small town, put clothes on my back, feed me, and loved me enough to put me through a private school where I got a good education without all the nonsense and rubbish that comes along in public schools. We rarely had things that we didn't need, but what we did have, my mom made sure that we would have them. The older I get, the more mature I get, the more I realize what a great woman my mother was when raising me and is still today.

In that sense, I was spoiled beyond belief. What materialistic selfish people think of being spoiled was something that I had no chance of ever achieving. And yet, I am very satisfied with my upbringing, as long as I don't look at it out of a foolish mindset.