The Hindu Business Line : Young, and rich

Two generations ago children were brought up to conform to the adage — `seen more than heard'. And they got the `feel of money' only when they started earning it. The next generation had a slightly more liberal upbringing. College kids got a modest pocket money of Rs 50 a month and three sets of clothes a year, which kept them happy. Perhaps the ones with liberal parents got a bicycle or a moped to ride to college.

The `generationext' has completely changed the parenting system that Indians were used to. An 18-year-old spends about Rs 1,000 streaking and spiking his hair, Rs 500 on cellphone bills, Rs 1,000 on eating out, and an unmentionable amount on designer clothes and fuel for the vehicle.

Are parents indulging their children because there is a meteoric rise in their income levels or because they are more liberal or indulgent than their parents were? ``Both,'' says Kaushik Gupta, Vice-President, Personnel, Madura Garments. He says he does not believe in the quid pro quo method adopted by many parents, i.e., ``If you perform well in exams, you get a bicycle.'' Gupta's six-year-old daughter knows that she has to study well because she has to and not because there's a gift waiting for her at the end of the term.

One parent of a four-year-old confessed that today's parents tend to spend more money on children because the adults themselves are discovering new gizmos and toys that were not available during their childhood. ``Now that we have the money and the opportunity to spend, why not?'' she quips.

Lemuel Herbert, General Manager, The Park.Hotel, Bangalore, mainly bought the PC for his daughter though the entire family uses it. Buying infrastructure for education is another major expense that today's parents have to budget for.

The last generation of children had only school-books and perhaps a library membership to help them prepare for exams. Today even ten-year-olds depend on the Internet and the multimedia more than library memberships. This means a lot more money, perhaps around Rs 1,500-2,000 per month.

Says Jinendra Sancheti, Managing Director, TNT India Ltd, who has two teenaged children, ``You cannot wish away spending on infrastructure because more than a lifestyle issue, it's need-based.'' Agrees Humayun Farid, Manager, International Marketing, Himalaya Drug Company, ``Spending on education is an investment for future and all decisions have to be taken based on the parents' financial situation.''

Gupta of Madura Garments points out to another major area that Indian parents have to keep aside the money for. ``Saving for children's marriage is something we all work towards.'' According to him, saving is also a spend area that parents have to worry about.

Spending is influenced a lot by peer pressure. While pre-schoolers have the TV tempting them to buy this or that, as the kids grow older, other children in school or in the neighbourhood are compared with. ``Even parents are faced by peer pressure,'' says Jayashree, a bank employee and a mother of two teenagers. Says Herbert, ``Most of the times when I feel I'm indulging, I pull myself back, though sometimes we do let go.''

Some spending decisions that are taken by the children also benefit the entire family. A parent in Bangalore was forced to move into a premier apartment complex because of all the facilities it offered her children. Similarly with consumer durables, furniture, cars, etc.

There's another pressure that parents of teenaged children are facing — that of sending children abroad for studies. ``It is the norm now to have your child study in universities abroad even at undergrad level,'' according to Jayashree. If the child cannot make it to the US, then it has to be New Zealand or Australia.

Most universities do not offer scholarships for undergrads and the parents would have to spend about Rs 5 lakh per annum for the course, she says. Her two children are not too keen on going abroad. As a result she sticks out in a crowd of mothers who are always exchanging notes about universities abroad.

If it's not studying abroad, holidaying abroad has become the order of the day. Sudip Banerjee, Chief Executive, Operations and Staffing, Wipro Technologies, says last year he and his family holidayed in North America, which was unthinkable for him as a child. ``Children always travel by air when they holiday which we were not used to.''

But look at the trend this way: The parents themselves lead a jet-setting lifestyle that reflects on the children's lifestyle. Banerjee says today's children are a privileged lot and compared to them ``my dad gave me very little, but that's the way he lived too.''

Gupta says the nouveau riche are spending a lot of money on children because they want to give their children a lifestyle which they saw very little of. ``Spending should be need-based,'' says Sancheti, commenting on teenagers using cell phones. ``Fifteen years ago, the availability and the needs were different from now. Values do change over a period of time.''

Travelling by car to college was unheard of even ten years ago. But the trend now is a two-car family and the children naturally get to use the second car more often. Take the instance of an undergrad college in Bangalore. Ten years ago, the college had reserved a small parking space for cars that was essentially meant for a few senior professors and the principal. Six months ago, the college had to enlarge the space and now most of the cars belong to the students.

Like driving cars to college, students making appointments on cell phones is no longer a strange scene. The mobile service providers too have realised the potential of the youth market and have launched several schemes meant only for college students.

Says Tanuja, an 18-year old psychology student, ``Once you enter college, the must haves are a vehicle, at least a two-wheeler (if not a car), a cell phone, branded clothes, a trendy hairstyle, and mind you, carrying a `tiffin box,' is passe.''

She says mothers have stopped packing lunch boxes. As a result, eating out is another expense that parents have to account for in their budget. Apart from the family outings, children visit the tuck shops every day. ``This is an additional Rs 500 per child,'' says Jayashree.

This is a fall out of the `working mother, nuclear family' trend. It's easier for a working mother to give the child money to eat out rather than labour in the kitchen before she rushes for a meeting. All these are lifestyle-oriented expenses that cannot be changed.

Farid perhaps has the last word on the issue: ``We Indians always tell our children that they should be thankful for what they have and that we didn't have the same luxuries. Probably they'll do the same thing with their children.''

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