Reply to Why Affluent Parents Put So Much Pressure on Their Kids

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No, the hospital volunteer internships are not what they were when we were young.  My daughter did one where there was very little patient contact, very few opportunities to do anything other than file and clean up the play room.  Apparently it has to do with liability laws and all of those precautions about bodily fluids, etc.  They are no longer allowed to make beds and run things to the lab and to do all the kinds of things that we probably did when we were in high school.  Nowadays an admissions committee sees them as pretty meaningless.

On the other hand, my neighbor's kid worked his way up from lifeguard to head of aquatics at some chi-chi private camp.  Ended up with a lot of responsibility including making hiring decisions for other lifeguards, disciplining other lifeguards, setting up and organizing training, filling out incident reports.  Probably had a lot more responsibility that could then be translated on a job application to something meaningful.

The cheezy guy in the cheap suit swanning around the 'policy conference'?  He's probably the last person I would hire.  [/quote]

Sure. I learnt how to act professionally around senior government officials and learnt how to organize conferences, liaised with hotels, and do research on a very interesting policy topic. Glad I was just the cheesy guy in a cheap suit. I learnt a ton, but it makes you feel better that teens who get plum opportunities like that must be just lazing off their parents who don't give a damn about their work.

While I was in India I also met a pre med prior to going to his Ivy League in India for three months providing basic medical services to the village. He was not slacking off, sure his parents money got him there but I saw him taking full advantage and learning. [/quote]

And how I got the policy job as a teen? I sent emails to a bunch of think tanks and networked myself. [b]I think even teaching your child to ask for opportunities gives them a leg up. [/quote][/b]

I agree -- and this is the kind of help that is better for an affluent, connected parent to provide.  Because then you are teaching your child the skill and he/she is the one putting herself out there.  My DS is only in 7th grade but recently needed to interview someone for a school project.  I knew people who would be appropriate for that interview but I didn't do the asking myself.  I coached him through how to do it and how to conduct the conversation.  Definitely, we are privileged to be in that position but he learned that he has to do the work, not just expect me to do it for him.

One summer when I was a teen I had a job at the company where my dad was an executive.  Yes, my dad got me the job -- the mailroom needed some temp staff (i.e. the job was not created for me) -- but once I started the job my dad told me not to tell anybody that I was his kid.  I was expected to work hard, learn, get along with the rest of the staff.  No leaning on nepotism.[/quote]

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