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Gen-N gets pennywise

Photo: S. Subramanium

CHILL Let’s allow ourselves life’s little pleasures. But let’s not binge on the spending

Modern day parents are giving holidays and home needs a break but are not yet ready to cut their children’s pocket money. New Generations 2009, a survey, revealed this and more.

The survey covered children aged seven to 14 years, with one of the parents in the four metros and other bigger cities like Hyderabad, Kolkata,

Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Nashik, Indore, Kochi and Madurai. The survey interviewed 3,431 children belonging to mid to high-income families in July-August this year.

And what did the survey discover? It said, nearly 40 per cent parents gave pocket money to their children and not just that, there has been a significant percentage increase. There has been a nearly 36 per cent increase in 2008 and 32 per cent in 2006.

“When the usual amount was falling short for them, they obviously came asking for more.

After cross checking with prices, me and my wife decided to ‘up’ the amount by a few hundreds. Our daughter loves making toys and cards and most of the pocket money goes into buying handicraft material. She has been very prompt with bills. And she also manages to save some amount to gift herself a book or a DVD when she feels like it,” says Ravi Machani, a tax consultant.

Most parents say the economy might have slowed down and lesser perks have come their way, but spending on toys, games and clothes for the child remained unaffected.

The survey said nearly 47 per cent parents were willing to spend the same as they did last year, and nearly 20 per cent claimed that they would spend more on their children this year. In fact, parents are eager to splurge on laptops and gaming systems for their teenage children.

Parents say the idea of increasing the amount of pocket money by a few hundreds is to make them comfortable while going out with friends. While doing so, parents suggest, close monitoring on how and where their children are spending is very important.

“That monitoring is necessary to ensure they are not doing anything wrong with the liberty,” says Madhumita, teacher and mother of two.

Children also say that the idea of pocket money is not to spend all of it. Saving some allows them to decide and buy that ‘one thing’ that they can be proud of.

The study shows 60 per cent of the children who received pocket money, also saved. While some still use the traditional piggy banks as it is easily accessible, a significant number entrusted the task to their parents while 10 per cent chose to deposit the money in a savings account.

“The good thing about saving with parents is they will add a few hundreds on their own when the number is odd, but my friends say the saving bank account makes them feel more grown up and responsible with their money,” says 14-year-old Ruchika Sharma.

For music buff Jyotishman, pocket money meant saving it to buy a guitar, “I am sure if I ask my mom for it, she will first enquire about the old ones. The old ones are there, I used them to learn the guitar, but while performing on stage for school gigs I want something that looks as cool as my music.” Jyotishman makes it a point to spend only when necessary.

“I don’t want to look like a tightwad in front of my friends, so I share when we eat out.”

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