Modern ‘rich, guilt-ridden’ parents spending more on kids : Study

Parenting has undergone a dramatic change in the recent times. Parents are laying more emphasis on their child’s overall personality development instead of just focusing on academics, according to a study.

The parents of the ’80s and early ’90s had a dearth of choices when it came to spending on their kids. However, with rising prosperity, the modern “money-rich, time-poor and guilt-ridden” Indian parents in metros are compensating their love with expensive gifts and keeping their children engaged with summer camps, foreign language classes, theatres, canvas painting and other enhanced learning courses.

Online marketplace for kids

mycity4kids.com along with media buying agency Starcom Media Group in a study conducted across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Indirapuram (Ghaziabad), Mumbai and Chennai said that rising trend of working parents has led to parents spending less time for their kids but having more money to spend on them. Children are going to daycare/playschool at an increasingly early age, it added.

According to the study, parents have become more obsessive about their children and at the same time have also become more hands-off, delegating key tasks to maids, grand-parents, tutors, school and other institutions and demanding greater accountability from them.

Rising expectations

Since children have access to many resources, parents’ expectation of them to perform at the highest level has also gone up. The role of the disciplinarian in the house has transitioned from the father to mother.

Parents want to make sure that they’re around to share special moments with their children. This is reflected in the extensive research for ‘kid-friendly’ holiday destinations, making time for the Parent–Teacher Meetings and children’s performances in school/outside. This coupled with the increase in the number and range of activities has meant that children have access to multiple opportunities in terms of both the range of activities available and the number of activities that a kid goes to, on an average.

Challenge for parents

Kids are exposed to technology at an earlier age than ever before with gadgets that make the experience more enticing and engaging. The challenge is for parents to decide how much is too much and what is good and what isn’t. With working couples, there is a movement towards having a strong support system in the vicinity consisting of grand-parents and maids.

Unlike earlier, parents almost dread the holidays as they are at their wit’s end on how to keep the kids busy, the study found. The same is also true of post school hours. Parents would rather have their kids participate in a supervised activity rather than have time to themselves only with the maid.