Say you became super rich. Would you still make your kids work?

[Cowabungaa]

As many in this thread, I'd cover the basics for them while they're kids and I'd pay for their education, and necessities during their studies so they don't have to worry or live unhealthily. Probably my grandchildren's education as well. They'd also always be welcome to come live with me again if they get in some kind of trouble. Any luxuries they'd want as a kid I'd make them somehow work for.

That said, I'd sooner pay for some videogames or something (that I'd play as well so what the hell) than force them to work some soul crushing job. I'd sooner encourage them to do something creative, drawing school or some shit, or maybe even volunteering for something they care about.

So if they'd, say, volunteer or join some trade class I'd give them extra stuff in return. You're working every Sunday afternoon in a soup kitchen? Here's a new cellphone if you need that. That kinda thing. But the moment they stop appreciating their lucky situation is the moment they'd have to manage on their own.

Living without work leads to ennui, and I wouldn't want my kids turning dead inside.

Hah, if anything gave me ennui it was the stupid supermarket job I worked as a teenager. That time would've been spent way more engagingly if it were spent on studying something or practicing a skill or craft.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Damn right I will! They haven't lived until they too know the black, horrible depression that comes from enormous amounts of student debt while living in a failing economy in a job market that often results in 50,000+ people all applying for the same position due to the ever-increasing unemployment rate thanks to an incompetent government that doesn't care! Hell the first present I'll ever buy them is a gun and a single bullet, and only welcome them into the family if they manage to resist it's siren call of a sweet release from the endless torment that is their existence!

...but no, in seriousness, I'd probably not force them to get jobs, but just actively encourage it while supporting them in whatever fields they wish to pursue. I did the whole 'trying to find work' thing in an economy that just didn't care (that '50,000 people' thing above isn't a joke), I don't particularly feel like inflicting that on any of my potential offspring if I have the financial clout to prevent it.

 

[Bobular]

Help them to build a future but don't GIVE them their future, if they screw up they have to fix it.

Otherwise you end up with Trump who thinks he can do no wrong.

 

[Mechamorph]

Not only will I make them work, as many others have noted it is definitely a good idea overall, but I expect them to make something of themselves to the best of their ability in order to qualify for any inheritance. I know that not all of us are gifted and I do not expect my children to be. They could be a blue collar worker or work retail and I would love them anyway. The most important thing is that they tried to be their own person and to build a life for themselves rather than waiting for their parents to kick the bucket and inherit vast riches. Given the extended life expectancy of our era, my children probably would not inherit until they are forty or fifty years old anyway so its better to teach them to take life by the horns. In any case, if they lack even that much maturity I wager that the money would be gone in an eye blink anyway.

 

[K12]

Yes, I'd be perfectly willing to support them to get them on their feet and into the right job for them, even lend them a fair amount to go travelling and see the world, but I wouldn't be happy supporting them indefinitely.

There's no way in hell I'd want my children to have no purpose in life apart from having fun with daddy's money. Work doesn't have to be about whoring yourself out so you don't starve to death on the streets. My money would give them the freedom to spend time looking for a job which meant far more to them than just a paycheck.

I also think it's worth doing some minimum wage customer service type work when you're a teenager. I started working Saturdays in Woolworths when I was 16 and I'm glad I did it even though the job was tedious and I only got paid ?4.10 an hour. I definitely wouldn't judge them for quitting it after a few months though.

 

[Leg End]

I'd tell them to expand the fortune so we will be able to make Mother Base and start a new nation.

Because I'm totally sane.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Absolutely. I'm the one who's rich. If they won't cash, let them work for it.

 

[Fox12]

Nope. I don't think there's any inherent value in work for it's own sake. I'd certainly stop working myself if I had the money, so it'd be hypocritical to force my kids into it.

Do any of you have any kind of evidence that working at a job "builds character" better than anything else they could be doing with their life? It seems obviously untrue to me.

If money is no problem, those kids could be travelling across the globe, meeting people from different cultures and witnessing the breadth of what the world has to offer. Or they could be flipping burgers. Somehow I think they'd learn more from the first experience.

Jobs are just shit, you can tell because otherwise people wouldn't have to be paid to do them.

I tend to agree with you. If anything, flipping burgers at McDonald's tends to kill you inside. You're not making a difference, you're not making money, and if anything, you're more likely to hate people then empathize with them. I would want them to do something, but preferably that would be something their passionate about. Music, film making, painting, business, whatever. I'd invest in their interests early so that they'd have a head start. I may make them do charity work, but that would be about it. Otherwise you end up like the guy from There Will be Blood.

"I hate most people. I want to make enough money to get away from everyone."

What's the point of money if you end up as bitter as the rest of us. You have a few feeble years to spend on this earth. Don't waste them flipping burgers if you don't have to.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Yep, at least one year in retail.
I'd probably help them pay for collage though.

I'd also most likely keep working myself, though would reduce my hours to part-time or purely freelance.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

So I'd just spend it all on myself to build a castle and not have kids.

But if for some reason I did...

I'd want them to have something to fall back on if things went wildly wrong for some reason. So I'd encourage them to have skills that they can use to work as well as some experience just for the sake of having the skills to survive if things go wrong. This wouldn't be any silly burger flipping nonsense, that won't serve them well at all.

Other than the above being something I'd feel obligated to do to make sure they'd be okay once I'm gone, I'd really not care. I don't believe work is some kind of sign of moral fiber. It's an obnoxious necessity that people try to spin into more to feel better about how much of their lives they have to waste.

I would want them to find something to do with their lives, but work itself is hardly a fulfilling goal.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

I don't have kids but, hell yes.

I'd want my kids to know the worth of a dollar and know what it means to work for what they want. No way in hell I'd want to raise pampered poodles. You want that brand new iPhone? Better get to work. You want the Playstation 6 or the Xbox 3? I hear Walgreens is looking for a cashier. Want a new car? Better start saving up. You're sick and you want NyQuil? ...Alright, fine. I'm not a monster. They pay for their luxuries, I pay for everything else, including education. That just seems right.

 

[Qizx]

100% My parents were pretty well off by the time I was born, upper middle class or higher and I worked since I was 15, started at minimum wage jobs. They paid for school, clothing, school supplies etc... However anything I wanted I needed to earn, I drove an old crappy car, I bought every gaming system I had myself, and every single game (excluding some Bday.Xmas presents but they rarely gave video game related stuff for those. It taught me A LOT. I value money, I don't waste it willy nilly, I save most of what I earn, I don't blow it on random shit that would be nice in the moment. It also made me a much more grounded person, I know people who didn't work a day in their lives when I was in college and it showed A LOT for the most part.

Not working will cause a person to have a complete lack of connection to the real world.

EDIT: I have no intention of having kids. Purely hypothetical

 

[chadachada123]

I would probably make them work a year in retail to help understand both how awful other humans are and how compassionate other humans are. Worked great for me, after all.

Otherwise, the only other work I'd have them doing would be tied to true arts, like archery or music or whatever else tickles their fancy. Video games are cool or whatever, but no son/daughter of mine is going to grow up without an appreciation for at least one type of art that has been honed for thousands of years.

After they graduate from a university, though? Unless they have a clear passion in some thing, I'd probably try to rope them into my own business, that they may take over one day.

 

[Gatlank]

Yes. They wouldn't need to put up with moronic bosses since the money would give some leeway but they would have to work and learn not to rely on easy money.

 

[Catnip1024]

I'm pretty sure I would continue to work, so why shouldn't they?

This. When people say they'd quit their job immediately if they got rich, I don't think they quite appreciate how mind-numbingly boring having no objective in life would become after a while. Sure, go on fancy holidays etc, change job to something more fun, but to quit everything?

As for kids, if you give them everything they will appreciate nothing. Make them work for that holiday home...

 

[veloper]

They would have to be able to survive eventually without my fiat money, but shit jobs aren't the way to go.

Rich or not so rich, the asian way is the way. If the kid has potential for higher learning or for a good craft, encourage that and give money and gifts for studying and good grades.
Flipping burgers makes a negligible amount compared to a good position, so the time is better spent on studying and networking as soon as that becomes an option. The kid may work during school vacations for some extra money, but time will be invested in the future whenever there's homework to do.

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Hell yeah. Money doesn't grow on trees, they must understand how much blood, sweat and tears go into business.

Probably would employ them as some sort of clerk inside my own company under one of my relatives (don't accuse me of cronyism), so they would't try to try anything funny using their sirname.

I'm afraid if they would't learn to communicate with their peers they would probably grow megalomaniacal (I'm looking at you certain New York Oligarch with silly hair).

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I'd shore up their education, but I'd expect them to work. My hypothetical wealth would be used for the occasional aside, like allowing my librarian son and my dental hygienist daughter to afford a five-star stay in Goa or Ibiza once every five years or so.

 

[mysecondlife]

I would have my kids follow their passion. If said passion is sitting at home and play videogame entire day, then fuck that.

Computer programming, baseball, culinary art, novelist, those I can support.