<p>I pay all my car bills. Sometimes, when I go home for a long weekend, my parents (usually my dad) will give me some cash - maybe $20 or $30 to help with the cost of gas. When I went home, shortly after Katrina, for a family emergency, he gave me $50. Other than a few handouts now and then, I’m on my own and have been since high school.</p>
<p>High school was when gas was less than a buck for a gallon of regular. My car took premium but got great mileage. My parents gave me a few bucks a week for gas - covered a couple of gallons, which worked well. Now, I was the one of my friends who usually drove; there were definitely a few times when I would have to fill up my tank after hanging out with them - if we went to NH or Cape Cod or the beach. Anyway, I devised a solution: I decorated a can and put it in my car. At the end of the night, if we drove a lot, my friends would throw their change into the can, which helped pay for the gas. Usually wasn’t their share, but everyone chipped in.</p>
<p>I highly suggest the can approach to kids, if they are the ones always driving.</p>
<p>Cell phones are a necessity in our family. I just took a teenage friend of the family out to buy his first phone. Since he is paying for it we found a good yet inexpensive prepaid phone/plan for him. My kids are on a family plan with me and my H. There is no reason to expect them to pay. And yes, they use them to chat to friend. In fact, its the primary mode of communication among us and among my D’s friends. In fact there are very few no land phone in most college apartments…that is now an unnecessary expense for most. It’s all how you look at it and are not optional for us.</p>
<p>My mom pays for my gas, but since Im driving her car and I dont have my own, its not costing her anymore than it did back when I was 15 and she drove me wherever I asked to go. In fact, I’m actually saving her gas money, since she doesnt drive me out, go home, drive back, then take me home. Its 1 round trip for me, 2 for her.</p>
<p>i totally agree that a kid shouldn’t pay for gas if the parent would have to make 2 trips if the kid didn’t have a license. Many driving teens drive FOR their parents (doing errands, taking siblings to practices, etc). But for “fun times”, etc, I have no problem with the kids paying for gas.</p>
<p>i’m just really intrigued by this whole thread… maybe it’s a regional thing… but i’ve never known anyone whose parents paid for their gas… in all of high school and college.</p>
<p>S has an older used car which my dad gave him as an early grad gift last summer (he graduates next month). When S had a paid internship last fall/winter, he paid for his gas, since he was making money. Otherwise, we do pay for his gas as I’d have to be the one dropping off and picking up. </p>
<p>S plays a sport which requires dragging a lot of equipment back and forth from home and school. Also his books are HEAVY!!! There are no buses because we only live about a mile or two from the school, but with all the cr@p he has to carry back and forth, there is no way I’d make him walk and drag all that stuff around. There’s no way I’d do it, so why should I expect him to?</p>
<p>“i’m just really intrigued by this whole thread… maybe it’s a regional thing… but i’ve never known anyone whose parents paid for their gas… in all of high school and college”</p>
<p>I have friends in NJ that pay so it’s not unheard of in your area. LOL. Nevertheless, parents spend money on their kids…its a fact. What they choose to pay for and what they choose to have their kids pay for will vary. And often the kids will ‘pay’ with money mom and dad give them as an allowance anyway. I mean not everyone holds a paying job in high school or college so maybe they are surviving off a trust fund? haha. Whether it’s a new outfit or a tank of gas or a comforter for their dorm room, the money will get spent…does it really matter on what?</p>
<p>Fendergirl, maybe its just something that other kids you know don’t talk about. I am sure there are plenty of kids carrying around credit cards that are billed to their parents.</p>
<p>haha, new jersey is weird anyway… they don’t even have to pump their own gas. (are other states like that too?) my one friend at school brought his car out and we literally had to show him how to do it. </p>
<p>anyway, all of my friends worked during high school and during college… i know some of their parents paid for their insurance and even cars, but not gas. i’m just finding it interesting. i mean, my parents (and all of my aunts and uncles, maybe it’s just something with my family) had their kids get jobs when they turned 14. we all started work practically the day after our 14th birthdays (we’ve been waitresses, pizza shop employees, grocery store employees, babysitters, factory workers, dishwashers, electrician helpers, lawn care people). we saved up our money and bought our cars when we were 16, assumed all responsibilities for them, etc. so it’s just weird for me to see other people having something like gas paid for them. </p>
<p>it doesn’t really matter, it’s a moot point.</p>
<p>i guess i should say maybe it’s a more local thing… not regional… i mean, kathiep said the same thing i said about working and paying for gas and she lives near me. (close enough that i used to work with one of her sons friends… who i think was 16 at the time and i was 21)… and like i said, all of my friends at my high school worked…</p>
<p>I am concerned about those with very modest incomes trying to absorb these rising gas prices into their budgets. Many of them have to drive long distances to their jobs and the gas is eating up their smallish paychecks. I really feel for them. I wish those low income people could buy their gas MINUS the taxes that are tacked onto each gallon. That would be a substantial savings to many since in many areas the taxes are percentages not just an exact number added.</p>
<p>When my d starts driving, I will continue to pay for her gas for places I would have taken her anyway - school, dance, and yes, to friends’ houses, movies, etc. It’s the same gas, and she’s saving me time! </p>
<p>Oh, and we recently needed another car - one is on its deathbed. We’d always gotten used cars; the last was a Subaru with 80K miles on it. But this time, we bought a new one - a Prius! I love watching the mpg calculations - getting 50 mpg makes me smile.</p>
<p>And parents always choose to spend their money on their kids in different ways. I cannot tell you how many adults I know who bought their first house because a parent “helped” them with a down payment, let them rent-to-own another house they owned, etc. Then I remember working with a young girl many years ago who had to pay her own orthodontic bills.</p>
<p>i hate it when I go to a full service gas station, it’s annoying to have to wait, and it’s not even full service, because they don’t check oil or clean windows or anything</p>
<p>when we used to have full service gas stations they would clean your windows while the gas was pumping, and they would check your oil if you asked them to… but they’re pretty much gone now… i think the last time i went to one was a year or so ago, and i didn’t realize it was a full serve… this strange guy came over and started to pump my gas… so weird.</p>