Playing the Child-Market

As kids we don't really think much about the future. Sure we dream of being doctors, fire fighters, astronauts, or in my case a sports broadcaster, but we really don't think too much about it.

However, after recent talks with a few parents, it's come to my attention that children look at the future as dream, and a parent sees their child's future as either an investment or liability.

If we break this down even more lets separate two different kinds of parents. Wealthy parents and not so wealthy parents.

If a non-wealthy parent has a child, the idea always seems to be that the child will be more successful than the parent and in turn can take care of the parents. While the parent usually has a steady career path in front of them, the child has a clean slate to be what ever he/she wants to be and can be quite successful doing so. If the child does something as simple as picking up a basketball and becomes part of a team, goes to college on scholarship, and gets drafted, momma and papa can kiss their debt goodbye and enjoy life til the end. In other words the child becomes an investment. Two parents subconsciously have a child in hopes that they will live their own dreams and become successful. It doesn't hurt if your stock goes up and you can sell sell sell once they hit the big bucks.

Now, if a wealthy person has a child, that child for the most part becomes a liability. A disgruntled or ill mannered child can ruin a family's reputation. You see a lot of this with government leaders. A president, governor, or congressman who is trying to win an election will usually try to keep his/her kids under control so that the people or campaign contributors know that they have the right person for the job. The common comment is usually "How can this person run a country or city if they can't even run their own household." You usually see the bad come out in a child after the person is either elected or hired. (i.e. the Bush Sisters)

The thing about wealthy parents is that they have a lot more to lose then gain because of their past success, while parents with non-wealthy background have more to gain than lose because they didn't have much to begin with.

And in some cases a non-wealthy family has a child that doesn't turn out the way they wanted. They then perform the action which is called a "do-over"

Or in my case... my family calls him Danny (my brother)