Why do some kids get an iphone 10 while others get a no-frills hand me down ? We teach our children that they can do or have anything but sometimes the parental purse says otherwise. Katy Gosset looks at how to help kids navigate financial disparities.
Why do some kids get an iphone 10 while others get a no-frills hand me down ? We teach our children that they can do or have anything but sometimes the parental purse says otherwise. Katy Gosset looks at how to help kids navigate financial disparities.
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Lorraine's* son, Josh* is like most teenage boys: keen to fit in, right down to his footwear.
" wouldn't want to be wearing something that was the wrong type of shoe. It wouldn't have to be Nike but if they were all wearing short socks he'd want to be wearing short socks", she said.
Some of the wealth he sees around him has also got him wondering about his own family circumstances.
"He asked if we were poor because we weren't going overseas like most of his friends were."
She had to explain that, while the family could pay its bills, trips abroad would be an occasional treat.
And when it came to gaming assets, both her sons could get jealous, Lorraine said.
"They say some friend they've got X box and they've got Play Station and why can't they have that?"
Clinical psychologist, Catherine Gallagher says this desire to keep up with the 'in crowd' or even compete with them is a natural part of development.
"There's actually an evolutionary drive and it's completely developmentally normal to compete. We compete to fit in."
And humans have been at it for a long time.
"Going back to cavemen days you were far less likely to be eaten or starve if you were included."
She said those who were excluded from the group were much more vulnerable.
"So there's a reason why being in the 'us' has some advantages."
She believed Darwin's survival of the fittest also played a role.
"If I have more than you, then my safety is almost more assured because I have power, I have some control, I have some extra stuff for me."
Over time, Ms Gallagher believed life had become even more individual and the communal 'us and them' had morphed into 'you and me' or 'me versus you'.
'So you can see how 'Keeping up with the Joneses', in fact competing with and beating the Joneses has become more important, especially as some resources have become more scarce."…