Chatter box with Sarah-Kate; Kate’s home truths
Kate’s cash-strapped boy puts up a roadblock
The rubber is hitting the road for my son – literally – in his newfound life away from home. He’s worked out he can’t afford to run a car, and he doesn’t have time to sit in all the traffic. He wants to sell his car and buy a scooter, or a moped, or just walk everywhere.
Auckland is too congested and cars are too expensive, he’s decided. The petrol, the parking, the rego, the insurance, the WOF, the tyres, the general upkeep of a vehicle is outside of his newly trimmed budget.
And this is the good thing about kids living away from home, they learn the realities of what things cost. They start making serious decisions about what’s a want versus a need. They start looking at what it costs to live, and they have to weigh up what they can and can’t afford. And my son’s car is not making the cut.
I didn’t want him buying an electric scooter, of course. The number of injuries suffered on those things is crazy, they’re no good in the rain, and they need constant charging. You also run a high risk of having them stolen.
And though I’m not a fan of motorbikes either, a moped sounds slightly less dangerous – although still not great in a storm, I told him.
However, he’s adamant the car is going. It’s a funny old passage of time, because I remember how much of a big deal having a car was when I was a teenager growing up. We had one of my grandparents’ old cars that we three kids had to share. We used to fight over it all the time – we were all desperate to have a car of our own; a car was everything. It was independence and freedom, and meant you could get anywhere anytime.
But kids these days are growing up in a different world – everything costs more.
Also, many don’t want to even get their driver’s licence. It used to be a huge deal for us and we couldn’t wait to get them, but nowadays it’s not unusual for kids to put it off. They either can’t be bothered or don’t see the need. They’ll take an Uber instead. Or an e-scooter.
Of course, we didn’t have e-scooters and Ubers when we were growing up. But we were sold the myth that by now, in 2020, “the future”, we‘d all be zooming round in flying cars like the Jetsons. That’s not quite eventuated yet, has it?
But kids who have to pay rent and buy food have to pay more now, and so they’re weighing up what’s really important.
I asked my son the other day if he thought he’d miss not having some wheels.
“No,” he replied confused, “Why would I?”
“Well, it’s so much freedom,” I answered.
“Nah, Mum, it’s not freedom, it’s pressure and a hassle, because it’s costing me more than I can afford,” he said.
Fair enough. I do, however, think once the winter months hit, he may regret flicking his car.
But, he tells me, “Life’s not about regrets.”
Oh, to have the optimism of youth.