After reading a piece about children growing up in the recession by Susan Berfield, an associate editor for BusinessWeek recently, I was reminded of a Charlie Rose interview I saw with the venerable Academy Award winning actress Sophia Loren a few years ago. What does Sophia Loren have to do with children growing up in the recession?
When asked by Rose about her fame & wealth, Loren replied that as a child of the Great Depression she doesn't see herself as someone who is rich & never will. Moreover money will always be a concern for her. She said her sons can & do see themselves as wealthy because they have no memory of dire financial struggles since they've grown up basking in their parents' collective success [Loren is married to Italian director Carlo Ponti]. Given the global dramatic effects of our current financial predicament, how the recession will likely effect today's children holds some interesting parallels to what Loren experienced herself.
Age Related Effects Of the Recession On Children
According to Berfield, a child's age group will likely influence how they are effected by our recession. Accordingly:
-Young children will likely be most deeply impacted because they will have no memory of "better times." Furthermore since they are likely to pick up on their parents' anxiety, the world will seem like an anxious & uncertain place. She indicates that their own career & financial decisions may be far more cautious as a result. This outcome is borne out by Loren's current feelings & views about money as a child of the Great Depression. Therefore the hypothesis that the recession may have a deep impact on today's small children seems very real.
-Teens & tweens reportedly are more likely to experience a sense of loss, which may make them attend to business issues more carefully in the future. For children at this age, the loss of material things may feel profound & personal. They also are likely not to assume that they will be higher achievers than their parents.
-Young adults represent the favored & cosseted millennial generation who are entering the workplace at an unfortunate point in time when jobs are tougher to come by. Additionally, this may influence career decisions, which may have long-lasting consequences. They may also resent their parents for promising them a brighter future than what presently seems possible.
What Can Parents Do
How parents deal with their children's reactions seems to be largely dependent on the family's financial circumstances. If their finances [& therefore their lifestyles] are simply "dinged," many parents seem to opt for keeping the burdens & worries to themselves in order to maintain their children's lifestyle before the crash. To do this, they are tapping into 401k's & scrimping on themselves. If however, parents have taken a significant financial hit that leaves them with little or no resources, they are drastically changing their lifestyle & doing it as a family where sacrifices are shared & nothing is hidden. It seems that in this, there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution.
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