> If gaming the system looks like “the child doesn’t have to worry about stable housing while growing up”, that seems like an upside.
To be clear, you are talking about children's trust funds being raided as a good outcome.
How would you feel if that violation of your rights happened to you, and it didn't happen to other children, and then some adult told you that it was ok that it happened?
Probably about the same as I’d feel if I had no chance of affording college because my family was below the poverty line and I spent my teenage years working part time to help pay the rent, all the while knowing that other children lived lives of relative luxury.
Your answer ignores the hypothetical trust fund you were supposed to get, which would be enough to pay for college (if your parents hadn’t stolen the money from it).
This is actually a pretty good example of how bad it would be if parents raided their children’s trust funds, which is something that would definitely happen. Kids who had their money stolen wouldn’t be able to go to college.
It’s worth restating that I don’t agree that a significant percentage of lower income families would raid their child’s trust funds. I think that perpetuates an inaccurate stereotype that people with lower income are somehow more inclined to unethical behavior, or more willing to steal from their own children.
But I directly addressed the impact of both the hypothetical trust fund and the hypothetical theft: if my hypothetical parents stole my shiny trust fund money to pay rent, I’d not need to spend my own part time earnings on it, and all of us would be way more likely to be able to set aside money for college, what with us not having to use our incomes for rent.
> and all of us would be way more likely to be able to set aside money for college, what with us not having to use our incomes for rent.
Savings from a child's part-time job would not come anywhere close to the hypothetical $250k proposed for the trust fund. This is a completely unconvincing argument. And you are still defending theft rather than condemning it!
Do you honestly believe it is acceptable for parents to steal money from their children? If not, why are you arguing that children should work to make up for the stolen money?
To be clear, you are talking about children's trust funds being raided as a good outcome.
How would you feel if that violation of your rights happened to you, and it didn't happen to other children, and then some adult told you that it was ok that it happened?