The rich kid syndrome: bet that you recognize this?
A new disease is affecting our country. In America, it has a name: affluenza. A combination of influenza (flu) and affluent (rich and prosperous). But what is the rich kid syndrome and don't we all recognize this?
To Bali please
The funny thing is: the syndrome does not so much refer to the ability of the parents. So you don't have to be a millionaire to suffer from this syndrome. It has everything to do with the way young people of this time think. We find more and more things very normal. Vacation to Spain? Pff, can't we go to Bali? Winter sports: only once a year, dad? Can we have a photoshoot? Can we celebrate a party in the toy store and rent it? Can we go on a jetski? Where we used to be happy with a folder full of Flippo's, those times have now passed for children, young people, and adults. Especially young people who grow up somewhat affluent; they get a distorted view of the world. They don't even do it on purpose.
No time
Psychologist Jessie O’Neill, author of ‘The Golden Ghetto’ sees it happening everywhere in Western countries. ‘Children think they have the right to everything they want, and right now, immediately. They see no difference between ‘I want this’ and ‘I need this’.’ The result is that children they grow up without norms. They do not see what is normal and what is a luxury. You see it when children (but also adults) keep asking for more. The disease of this time, if you ask me. ‘Children who have too much’, is the title of a book by a professor at Harvard. The cause of the ‘spoiled’ behavior is known according to the author. Minear explains that parents nowadays have less and less time for their children: women they work more and longer. We massively compensate for that with material things. I can relate to that. Don't we all have a bit too much? A bit too good? And if we don't have something, it's time. Right?
When I look at my own wardrobe, I sometimes think that I have nothing to wear, while there are at least eight never-worn sweaters, dresses, and pants in there. I have expensive bags, sunglasses, manicured nails, and a house that looks like it came from Vtwonen. But still, it is never enough, never finished. There is always something new that I see online that I must have. Disgusting? Absolutely. But I can't help it: I am unfortunately a child of this time. I suffer from this syndrome. And you probably do too, although you will first deny it.
Humble
Then I read something in my email again. Whether I want to donate money for sanitary pads for poor girls in distant countries. They share their bloody pads, with or without HIV. They cannot get through their time of the month otherwise. We buy sanitary pads at the drugstore with our eyes closed and sigh and complain and sulk. Let's be a bit more humble again, and do a bit more for others. You already have enough, really.
