Well its certainly true that its a sliding scale. As one gets older, ones taste in toys certainly gets more expensive.

It is certainly true that we are all making some big assumtions about this young man, his family, his future.......

Or how about you give the kid an expectation that he will be handed whatever he wants whenever he wants because DADDY made all the money.

This pattern plays out over and over all across America big earners with little accumulated wealth spending their money like there is no tomarrow. Their kids, get whatever they want, and grow to expect it. In too many cases the kids are not big earners but want to live like one. This is where daddy comes in. Daddy must supplement their income in order for them to live at the level they grew accustomed to. Then the child turns inot just another bill daddy has to pay for the rest fo his life.

The best think a parent can do for thier kid if force them to stand on their own. I am constantly explaining to my 13 y/o that all the nice things daddy and mommy have are due to hard work and making something of yourselves. Can he expect fancy vacations, a big house and expensive car when he is just starting out in life? Hell no! But when he does achieve these things they are so much more appeciated not expected like Mr. Silver spoon.

Your little "bosses project" that you got stuck with is a perfect example. Daddy obviously made soem good moves and had some business smarts to get where he is. Now junior wants in and daddy hands him a huge chunk of money, hands him a job and forces you to tech him to the ropes. You admit he is not very bright so its going to take some work, if this kid was not who he is he would not be where he is. But because daddy is dolling out the handouts he appears to be more than he is. Hopefully daddy will be able to support him for his entire life, or until he locks the kid into the board of directors of the company then daddy will have passed his problem along.

No sour grapes here, I just want my kids to grow up standing on their own and if it means they have to take some lumps along to way, good, it will make them stronger in the long run.

Your bosses son is probably a pretty weak individual who cannot fathom doing without.

What a bunch of self indulgent and myopic tripe.

I would say uniformally that the kids from Watts accomplish more than the kids from Beverly Hills born with silver spoons in their mouths. The reason is simple, the kids in Beverly Hills get everything handed to them...they drive Porsches, Mercedes and BMW from age 14. They buy $3000 purses without thinking twice. Whatever they "accomplish" in life is 99% because of what their PARENTS accomplished. The kids in Watts, however, get ZERO from their parents so whatever they accomplish is 99% because of what THEY did. Just because a kid from Beverly Hills inherits a billion bucks or a company does NOT mean they accomplished anything.

Who would you rather take? Paris Hilton or a 22 year old kid from Watts who is starting up a lawn care service? I'll take the kid from Watts anyday.

BTW, it says EVERYTHING about how the parents are rearing the child that they think a $65,000 sportscar is an appropriate Easter gift for their 15 year old son.

I think the big difference is whether parents are gratifying their own ego at the exclusive country clubs by bragging about what they bought for their children, or truely doing their best to raise the kids to become as successful in life as possible.

Our job as parents is not to preprare a path for our children. Our job is to prepare our children for the path they will face when we are not there.

I will go out on a limb here and say that buying a new Cayman S for a 15 year old is in no way ever ever ever ever ever going to prepare them to be as successful in life as possible...

I disagree. In reference to an earlier post I made on this thread, where I finished HS, there are always examples of spoiled rich kids amounting to nothing but barren shells, wasting oxygen.

I can also cite numerous examples of just the type of behavior you say will "never prepare a 15 year-old" for life that runs counter to your posit.

It is a sliding scale, IMHO: I make my children work for things. They have defined tasks and goals they must meet in order to merit luxuries (horses, trips, TV and X-box to name few).

Who is to say that, in his world, the P-Car was the exact same carrot any parent issues to encourage positive behavior.

And we all do it with our children: Set goals, reach goals, attain reward. This kid MAY just be on a different scale from yours. I suggest you get over it.

Lastly, concerning the fact that the Cayman may be too much car, have you guys been on the highway much? A Mustang is too much car as far as I can tell.

A mustang is too much car, and I would not buy a Mustang for a 15 year old either.

As far as a sliding scale, I suppose you would also say then that buying your child a $10 million mansion for cleaning up their room is also ok?

The point is that while we do use carrots to motivate our children, there is a HUGE difference between a $2 matchbox car for your 5 year old and a $65k Porsche.

Let's have a dose of reality here...

P.S. I'm curious. Could you explain why you think that giving a child a $65k Porsche at the age of 15 is going to prepare him to succeed in life? How is the $65k car better in that regard than a $10k used Honda? You said you could cite numerous examples, I'd be curious to see them.

Parents don't buy inappropriate like that for their kids. Parents do that to satisfy their own needs and in a fairly transparent attempt to compensate for perceived inadequacies and to draw attention to themselves.

(The kid essentially concedes that it is inappropriate for their station in life when he talks about how he hesitates to tell anyone, feels he has to park it far away from school, etc.)

Literally millions of families could afford to buy their child an inappropriately expensive first car. For a Caymen, it can be as easy as a $600-$800 month lease payment. But the vast majority of parents know better.

You seem hard wired against any method of raising children that isn't your own...the fact that I was exposed to excess (again, not by my parents) only means I have seen both sides.

You also seem fixated on the cost of things...your 10k Honda is unimaginable to many in this country, but doesn't mean your child is spoiled. Again, the scale...I can be just as absurd in my anecdotes if you'd like.

I never said giving a child a 65K car was good...I said it was stupid. I simply disagreed with your labeling it, "terrible".

For what's it is worth, here's how the car deal will play out with my kids: My 14 year-old daughter will get out 8 year old Trooper to drive. My son, 12, will get my 7 year old Tacoma.

We can afford much more, but we elect not to. The fact that other folks have a different approach bothers me not a wit.

1978:
No car of my own as a senior, my dad said he would kick me out of the house if I bought a car even though I had worked for two years saving up for one by washing dishes and washing cars. He said he was trying to protect me from spending all my money on a car. I think he was trying to have absolute dominance, power and control over me - he sure the heck acted like it. Moving out a year later was the best thing I ever did, even my skin cleared up.

1983:
Laying on my back in a puddle of cold water with cold rain pouring down in a dark parking lot five miles my 7 x 13 foot rented room, in a house with no heat and a nauseous fume spewing kerosene heater waiting for me....................trying to get the frozen on starter off a 1976 Econoline at 9:00 PM.............with a college mid-term exam 9:00 AM the next morning…………….and I still had to study for it.

Conclusion 2007:
Working your way though school and earning everything you have is way over rated.

Living their lives viacriously through their kids is just plain wrong. Substituting "things" for "love" is wrong.

Common sense should prevail, but with children it rarely does. Parents should honestly assess the reasons why they do what they do for their kids.

Cheap but reliable, and crashworthy is the way to go with a child's first car...and even into the second. I speak from experience here. Our daughter was pretty typical for her age group....making "mistakes" that trashed her early cars. She still may be doing so, but at least she's paying for them now... I'd suggest you think a base model (4 cyl) little pickup. The added plus is no room to carry a full sedan load of "friends".

It may seem that way, but I'm not hard wired against any method not my own. I simply see that there are certain actions that are universally inappropriate in raising children. Some of those things include:

Allowing your 5 year old to play in a busy street.
Feeding your child cheeseburgers every night.
Allowing your child to hit, mistreat or abuse other kids.

And

Buying your 15 year old a Porsche Cayman S because he thinks it is cool.

I understand that you have a different viewpoint, that's fine. I disagree with the notion that my saying this action by the parents is inappropriate and ultimately harmful to the child. I think a big part of the problem with the generation growing up today is that we have looked the other way too often...sometimes wrong is just wrong.

BTW, I know I have spent some time on this topic, but don't think I am getting personally worked up over this. I simply see the idiocy in this action and wonder why everyone else doesn't understand the link between actions like this when you are 15 years old and the actions of Paris Hilton when she is 22...

Oh, you're making this way too easy. Calm down Mr. Old School.

Paris Hilton earned like a $100 million last year - I remember catching her outrageous earning number somewhere and thinking how absurd it was that she made more than Angelina. That's just wrong.

So you're saying Paris is a screw-up 'cause parents gave her everything? Well you're wrong man wrong. She's making more loot than her parents - and you claim that they (circumstantially) raised her wrong? Whereas the kid with the lawncare service will grow up raising another batch of good little McDonald employees 'cause they're mired in work ethic and family values.

Like I said, the middle/lower class just keep doing the heavy lifting and will forever because they perpetuate plebian attitudes like rah rah hard work. Be smart - don't work hard. And don't put high value on "things". Make your kid dream about Porsches just 'cause you did? Well your ancestors dreamt about finding food, maybe we should rewind to that scenario.

Want to be a good parent? Teach your kids that things like Caymans ain't the prizes in life - the prizes are much bigger and more important than things you can touch, drive or eat. One way to make things seem unimportant is to make sure kids have lots of whatever it is. Not necessarily the best way = but it's one way.

That's what separates success from spoilage in child rearing...

I've bought three, all trucks for work. It feels pretty good even if it's a work truck. Never had a new passenger car and never really wanted to buy one for all that money. But, my present '89 Chevy PU is probably the last ever new vehicle I will ever buy. If I need to replace it, I'll most likely look for a 2000 in good shape and not used as a work truck (of which there are a lot to choose from).