Parents Who Eat Their Children

Being a parent is difficult because with the best of intentions, it is still possible to screw up. But sometimes parents don't seem to have the best of intentions. Once I was talking to a kid in a court mandated school. The girl was intelligent, hard-working, and nice looking. We were talking about money because the kids were high-school age and I had invited an investment guy to come and talk to them about the advantages of saving money on a regular basis. Interest would work with her money and she would have a nice bit put aside at some point. She said she never had any money. I said she was old enough to get a part-time job. She said she had three part-time jobs. I asked why she didn't have any money. She said her mother took it all. I thought that was absolutely horrible. All I could see was a child with no present and no future.
So then I thought maybe it was just some lower socio-economic groups that were that short-sighted. But I know that socio-economic status doesn't mean horrible. I know there are people who scrimp and save to put their kids through school.
I also know there are people with better houses and cars than mine who take their kids' money. But I don't know why they think they are worth more than their kids' educational foundation in life.