They say: the older the child, the more serious the tasks parents have to solve. But when it comes to pocket money for the beloved child, the proportions are even sterner: the older the child, the more expensive it is for mom and dad to let them go out into the city, and the richer the country, the more parents have to shell out for their children's needs. One vivid example in this regard is France and Luxembourg.
"In Paris, everything seems not cheaper than here, and cigarettes and drinks are even more expensive, but there my peers' parents give them much smaller amounts for pocket money, because the income level is lower and it is not customary to splurge," says 18-year-old Marie Rev, daughter of a financier from Luxembourg (some of her former classmates study in the French capital). What is surprising is that the more affluent the family, the tougher the parents' stance on the child's spending.
The father of 17-year-old Jacqueline Louis recently bought a house worth about a million dollars, with a swimming pool, shooting range, sauna, and billiard room. The rooms have modern wallpapers and the latest brands of electronics and home appliances. Jacqueline is an only child. But when it comes to picking her up late at night from a disco, and the family lives outside the city, the tired millionaire father grumbles as he takes the car out of the garage. Allowing Jacqueline to take a taxi would set a precedent, and such expenses are considered illogical. For two years now, Jacqueline has been working for one month in the summer as a referent in a company cooperating with her father's corporation, earning $1,000. This money is kept in an account that dad opened specifically for his daughter. She has allowed herself to spend only a small amount on clothes. "I respect my parents' position that, despite dad's wealth, I should earn money for my own needs myself," Jacqueline explains. "I want to be independent and spend this money as I decide. I already know how. Next summer I'll take driving lessons, and in a year I'll buy a used car."
In everyday life, Jacqueline and her friends make do with what they get from their parents. As a rule, pocket money is given once a week and amounts to $12-15. This does not include transportation costs (parents buy monthly passes for the children) or the purchase of small necessities for school. What is called personal expenses in the West—a pack of cigarettes, a hairclip, a ring, a cup of coffee or a mug of beer with friends—that, if you please, you pay for out of your pocket money. The kids say that, in principle, this is enough; problems only start on Friday evening when nightclubs open. The entrance fee is about $20, and boys and girls pay for themselves. "Of course, the weekly allowance depends heavily on the relationship with mom and dad at the moment," says 19-year-old Clark Thierry, "but it's still better to get a job and not beg every weekend."
Young people usually work part-time in the service sector or in stores and see nothing humiliating in it. On the contrary, the young say, if you bought a car with money you earned, not with dad's (and dads are more than well-off), it's prestigious and raises your standing in the eyes of girls.
European Union laws allow girls to earn money, for example, as barmaids and waitresses at discos. Payment is hourly, and over weekend nights, you can earn about $500 per month, plus the pleasure of combining work with a favorite pastime. Among Luxembourg's youth, there are also those who pay not with one but with three or four credit cards, or receive up to $150 per week from their parents and also get extras by visiting sympathetic grandparents. But they are more of an exception. The sweetest money for Sunday spending is money earned by oneself, as most Luxembourg kids believe. You don't have to account for it, you don't want to save it, and only it gives you a feeling of adulthood.
And in Germany, a child receives as many marks for pocket money per week as the number of years they have been in school. That is, in first grade—one mark per week, in fifth grade—five marks per week. There are no written rules on this, of course... But what to do if a son or daughter has already finished school? Their demands have naturally grown, but their income?
In recent years, sociologists have drawn attention to a relatively new but indicative phenomenon for today's France: according to research, every second young person aged 20 to 25 continues to live under their parents' roof. And even a fifth of those aged 25 to 30 do not want to deprive themselves of parental care.
"It's hard being parents nowadays," complain moms and dads (especially those who have all four sons under 23 living in one apartment). The situation is not easy: doors are constantly slamming in the house, everyone talks in raised voices, and you have to endure the sounds of TV or modern music against your will. The paradox is that today's children mature much faster. In the 1970s, young people proved their independence by leaving home and slamming the door, but now adult children, muttering "I do what I want," prefer the easier path—parental care. And this phenomenon is observed throughout Europe!
People are getting married and having children at ever older ages. If we consider that adult life is defined by two criteria – a stable job and starting a family, then this is where the explanation should be sought. To find a job, a diploma is needed, and requirements are ever higher, and years of study are stretching out. Young people do not strive for early marriages not because during the sexual revolution they reject the institution of marriage, on the contrary, today's youth idealizes the traditional family. According to all surveys, family ranks first among fundamental values for them. But young people imagine family life not as existence shoulder to shoulder, but as life face to face. They yearn for complete mutual understanding and happiness. The result of this excessive demandingness is the fear of making a mistake both in choosing a partner and in choosing a profession.
And as always, parents pay the price, whose children cannot seem to fly out of the parental nest. This year, the French government even held a special conference on the topic of adult children, and as a solution proposed paying an additional social allowance to families where adult children, while continuing their studies, are still dependent on their parents.
The situation in Portugal is completely different. Although it is considered the poorest country in the European Monetary Union and the average salary here is about a thousand marks (just over five hundred dollars), Portuguese youth are experiencing a real consumer fever. "My parents always considered it shameful to go into debt," writes thirty-year-old journalist Pedro Fernandes in the newspaper "Индепенденте", "but today very many young men and women literally live on credit." Last year, Portuguese took out so many loans that if the total were divided among the entire population, it would turn out that each family borrowed more than 3/4 of its income. True, inflation in the country is quite high (by European Union standards), so saving money makes little sense; it's better to buy something right away. Which the residents of Portugal do with great pleasure.
Almost half of all working Portuguese work on temporary contracts. Of course, guaranteed salaries are more popular here than temporary pay. But there is more freedom, the ability to manage one's time. Young people especially value this, and they are not afraid of risk. Moreover, it is still unknown who takes more risks: pieceworkers or those on salary. Well, the fact that there is not enough money is nothing new. With money, decent people have only two states: either they don't have it, or they have none at all. And age has nothing to do with it.