Joan Koonce
Joan Koonce, a professor and extension financial planning specialist in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, was quoted in Bankrate about how parents overspend on their children.
According to the article, many parents give into weakness when it comes to spending money on their children because parents want their children to be happy, and children are good at making parents feel that if they don’t get what they want, they are terrible parents. These impulses can have serious financial consequences.
“Parents are trying to provide [kids] with these things, and sometimes it’s a bad situation because they really can’t afford it,” said Koonce, who researches the financial behavior of youth and family communication about finances.
This pattern of giving in can lead to higher stakes for the children.
“When they leave their parents’ household for the first time, many of them end up in a lot of debt,” Koonce said.
