Whether people like to admit it or not, many high school students spend their years prior to college tucked under their parents’ financial wing. The things they wear and use have mostly been supplied from their parents’ paycheck and kids don’t realize what they have. Sure this may not be a problem now, but some kids’ failure to see what they have been blessed with is something that really irks me.

I myself am 16-years-old. Back in September I got my license like a normal 16-year-old and have been fortunate enough to have a car to drive whether it is my mom’s or the one I share with my sister on occasion. Both having had conversations with others or overhearing conversations of people saying “I better get a car” or things of that nature bothers me to an extent. Cars are both expensive to buy and fill up with gas and as someone who is inexperienced you are telling me you “better get one”, as if that is the expectation? It’s crazy that people don’t realize these possessions take work to receive. Never will we live in a world where you get things for doing nothing (or at least I hope not).

Now a car is something on the higher end of purchases, so I’ll bring up phones. If you are a student at Westside I think it should be clear to you that there are a vast amount of iPhones. This is a device which costs a couple hundred of dollars to own and once service is tacked on, it’s around an additional $40 a month. Still, when something such as cracking the screen happens to their personal phone, these kids expect to get it replaced right away. How? Can someone seriously tell me it should be an expectation for someone to get a brand new phone even though they were the one to mess their old one up?

Sure, I may just be ranting about some of the things I have heard over the last couple months, but it’s amazing to me. If you think you should get something just because you want it, go buy it yourself. If you don’t have the money, get a job. It’s okay for people to rely on their parents for money every once in a while but to be reliant on them for items that aren’t a necessity in life is something that in the long run, will bite.