Economic Trends

Today’s New York Times ran a front-page story about how  college freshmen are feeling a record level of stress.  “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010″  surveyed more than 200,000 incoming full-time students, and the percentage rating themselves as below average in mental health rose over past years while those who said their emotional health was above average fell to 52% from 64% in 1985. Campus counselors say this is no surprise: They frequently see students who are depressed, under stress and even using psychiatric medication.

The economy has only added to the stress, both because of kids’ concerns about their parents’ financial scenarios but also due to their own college debt — more are having to take out loans –  and their job prospects upon graduation.

The findings are ironic in their timing, in a way, given the uproar recently over how Dragon Moms pressure their kids to succeeed. Even without such pressure, our kids feel stress. 

We’ve been fortunate with our college-age son who, bless him, has one of those “up” personalities and rarely seems bothered by much of anything. But next year, upon graduation, he will be joining the ranks of those looking for a full-time job. He’s a step ahead in many ways, due to a series of internships and his particular academic focus — but, who knows? If his job search hits a dead end, how can he not feel stressed?

What do you do, as parents, to help your kids through stressful situations?

When it comes to charitable donations, women tend to be more giving, according to a recent study by the Women’s Philanthropic Institute at the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy. Women of all income groups are more likely to donate, and in four of five groups, they give more than men.

Why? “Women have just been socialized as the caregivers in their families to be more empathetic and altruistic,” according to Debra Mesch, the Institute’s director. In addition, she noted that wealth, education and income are the primary factors for philanthropy, and that women have shown real gains in those areas.

In what the study refers to as its middle range of income, $43,500 to $67,532, the average amount donated by women was $728, compared with $373 for men. For more on the subject, visit here.

Readers, who is the more generous in your family when it comes to charity? Why?

Which demographic should a manufacturer of kids’  products target:  moms, or  kids themselves? While I come down firmly on moms’ side — my whole business has been built on the belief that mom is the ultimate decision maker — kids  do make themselves heard.

According to The NPD Group, Spotlight on Kids: Understanding Cross-Category Purchasing: Data from July 2010—Back To School, 49 percent of all dollars spent on kids in July were specifically requested by the children.

That month,  apparel topped the list of products purchased for kids (20 percent), followed by footwear (13 percent), toys (8 percent), and video game consoles (7 percent). The survey also found that girls were more likely to request apparel and books and boys typically asked for sporting goods and video games.

Nearly two-thirds of dollars spent on kids came from their parents; grandparents contributed 19 percent.

These days, it’s not just women who are stressed by the effort to balance work and family.  Men, too, find themselves caught between what is expected at the office and at home.  According to an article by Lisa Belkin in this Sunday’s New York Times magazine,  women  now account for over half of managerial and professional jobs, 43% of  MBAs and working wives are coming close to bringing in nearly half the household income. Yet they are still responsible for the majority of child care, performing twice the housework and three times the child care that men do, even in homes where women are the primary breadwinners.

For men, meanwhile, while more is expected of them at home,  expectations have not changed on the job. As a result, the percentage of fathers in dual-income households who say they suffer work- family conflict has leaped from 35% in 1977  to  59% today. Yet even when there are flexible work policies, American men don’t use them as much as American women do.

To quote Belkin: “Can we make it ‘manly’ (or even better, ‘gender neutral’ ) to spend a day with a child, or earn less money but have more family time, or be the only parent at a parent-teacher conference because our wife has a meeting?”

She continued: “Empowering American women can no longer focus only on women…All those efforts must continue, yes. But none will succeed if we don’t change our expectations for men, or more accurately, men’ s expectations for themselves.” 

Readers, your thoughts?

Are your parents raising your kids?

If that’s the case, you are far from alone. According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data,  roughly 2.9 million children are currently being raised primarily by their grandparents, up from 2.5 million in 2000.

Why this huge jump? Blame the Recession, for the most part. There was a 5 percent leap in the number of children cared for mainly by grandparents between 2007 and 2008 alone. Approximately one out of every ten U.S. children now lives with a grandparent.

Moms, have you turned to your parents to help raise your kids? Have they taken on the primary responsibility? Tell us why — and how you feel about it.

Marketers, what are you doing to acknowledge and assist grandparents who are part of this growing trend?

As a stay-at-home mom, what’s your worth?  The bad news is: This year, less than usual.

Earlier this month, Salary.com released the results of its 10th annual survey on the subject.

It found that stay-at-home moms should earn $117,856 and that mothers who also  work outside the home would earn an additional $71,860 above their regular salary for doing what they do as  moms. But the recession impacted the results, dragging those numbers down by 4% for stay-at-home mothers and 6% for working moms.

Furthermore, the survey found that moms rack up more than 96 hours a week of work when combining a full-time job, mom hours, and mom overtime — four hours more than last year, meaning everyone is working more, for less. 

The  salary figures were based on the time women spent on what were identified as the 10 most popular job functions of a mother. Salary.com established its figures by considering the market value for those tasks, which include laundry machine operator, janitor, van driver, computer operator, housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, chief executive officer, psychologist, and facilities manager.

The survey also found that moms are spending more time this year on tasks such as preparing meals, making sure the home stays in good repair, and shuttling the family to activities.