Let’s talk about saving our children from affluenza. What is Affluenza? Affluenza is seen as ‘placing a high value on money, possessions, appearances (physical and social) and fame’. It is a social condition arising from the desire to be more wealthy, successful or to “keep up with the Joneses”. It is symptomatic of a culture that holds up financial success as one of the highest achievements.(Source – Investopedia)
Affluenza has been defined as a “socially-transmitted” or “contagious” condition in which people feel unfulfilled, overloaded, and stressed due to the constant desire to be wealthy and acquire more and more material things.
It is characterised by placing too much value in your possessions and letting money rule your life’
In the case of Ethan Couch, a 16-year-old teen who while drunk killed four people, his attorneys argued that he had been raised as a privileged and wealthy child who had been a victim of an extravagant lifestyle and upbringing that didn’t include consequences for bad behaviour. In truth how many parents are raising their children this way, it it not until there is a tragic outcome that parents must check the way they are raising their children.
To start dealing with Affluenza, those wishing to avoid the condition should look to be the master of, not a slave to, the things they have or wish to obtain.
While wealth and being given too many material things can certainly be a contributor, indulging kids–and not setting limits or giving them consequences when they misbehave–is probably just as much, if not more, of a factor in how kids turn out. Some families with money may have lovely, well-mannered kids who are really nice, kind people while some families who are more in the middle- or lower-income categories can have spoiled, selfish, and greedy kids who feel entitled. So it works both ways and across all classes.
So the victims and characteristics of “affluenza” though largely tied to the pursuit of wealth and putting it above all else are not the only ones who can suffer from it. Anyone who thinks that life would be much better if they only had more material possessions (more designer clothes, a bigger house, more things to fill their house) is living the pursuit of the mantra that money is equal to happiness is a potential victim.
Simply put, affluenza is a harmful or unbalanced relationship with money or its pursuit. Affluenza replaces our true needs with imagined wants. The process of solving affluenza involves awareness, education and change and understanding that it can have negative impact on our lives and those around us.
In Lagos and Nigeria we have a Society where everything and everyone celebrates fast money, cash, buying more and owning more. Parents have to consciously raise children who do not grow up afflicted with Affluenza. How sad it would be if parents spent all the time acquiring wealth, spend little time on values and training children only for them to grow up handicapped with affluenza side effects and unprepared to face the real world.
We should all teach children to be grateful, don’t focus on material things, don’t equate your love with always giving your child material things. If your child believes that love represents gaining material things and this is celebrated above all other values then your child will grow up associating success with financial and material terms. Money and wealth is a means it is not the end goal…No one should be consumed by the pursuit of this. “By teaching (children) that they can have what they want when they want it, you are setting them up for a lifetime of misery.
The definition of success is much broader than how much material goods or money you have. So parents lets be aware — lets teach the right values.
sources: about.us, simplystephen.ca
