Here's part of my comment and then some...

During my college years... ahem... I think it was about 1993 when I wrote a research paper on the pressures of kids and having their possessions.

Back in the day (lol) not everyone had cellphones or even pagers. At first it was only doctors or medical people, lawyers, etc. that needed to have a pager for emergency and contact purposes.

Now it's the norm.  Now there are kids paying an average of $100 a month for a cell phone bill. Not just a plain cellphone, but these kids are carrying around pdas, expensive cellphones with video cameras, mp3 players, etc. And how about that ipod and the $ for all the songs they download? Or the number of PSPs, and games they have?

Add that to the media's need to show the latest "bling" that all the stars are wearing, and I think its absolutely ridiculous that I see 16 year olds with coach purses, brand new cars with Sirius radios and expensive rims, name brand clothing, nails done, hair done...

And there are parents who don't pay for this stuff- so the kids are forced (because they just NEED this stuff, right? Their media shows them daily how their idols all have this stuff, right?!) to get jobs so they can "fit in" with today's expectations.

So, in the end, these kids start getting jobs at 15 or so, so they can have the latest trends. But most work for  minimum wage or really can't handle the hours so, then they get credit cards. And they have debt. And how are they supposed to pay more than the minimum payment when they barely have any money left after getting their nails/hair done, cellphone bills and buying the latest video games at Gamestop (a PS3 runs at least $400 and $50 a game!)?!?!

To top it off- can you imagine how much time is taken away from their studies while they are out working so they can afford to be cool?

Ever think about that? All the kids working at some fast food restaurant or mall store- are too busy being concerned with looking good/cool, then being home studying and getting good grades. (Yes, I know, there are some kids actually saving for worthwhile things like a car or college, but honestly- I think that's a low percentage of why kids are working nowadays.)

Even I can say that I got a job so that I could go the movies or buy whatever I wanted (which was clothes my mom wouldn't buy me! LOL...)- I never saved any of it. Actually, the clothing company, Merry Go Round, that I worked for gave me a 40% discount on all the hottest clothes at the time- so they actually got all their money right back! And I know that's what the mall stores still do. Luckily for me, I got full scholarships... but think about all the kids you see working right now. They are working for that cellphone bill, their nails, their games... NOT anything worth sacrificing their education for (this will be for my next blog- but do you see how TIRED these kids are for school? Do you see all the kids at Starbucks nowadays getting coffee!?!?)

But, in these days of MTV, shows like Cribs, Pimp my Ride, The Fabulous life of..., and all the tabloid pictures and tv shows showing the stars of kids/teens shows, their movie and music idols having all their "bling" and looking so cool and perfect... our kids are kind of mesmerized and it looks like the "norm" not something you have to earn or something only well paid people should have. So they work, they get credit cards, and they fall into a financial hole before college... 

Most kids are not taught about the value of their credit standing (I did a survey of 100 kids when I wrote that research paper). In fact, in my circle of friends, we've actually discussed this topic, and NONE of us had any kind of talk about the importance of credit with our parents, and they didn't touch base on it in schools.

Sigh... I better have a talk with my 9 year old. Gotta go!  =)