Earwigging in Asda this morning, as you do, I overheard the woman in front of me at the checkout say something that really startled me.
She'd been griping generally about having to pay £170 for something her daughter (a teen, I gathered) wanted/needed for school. I wasn't paying much attention until she ended with this rhetorical flourish: 'I don't care what she does, as long as she earns enough to look after me in my old age.'
I'd been expecting the traditional/usual '...as long as she's happy', so perhaps that added to my surprise, but I can't stop thinking about it now.
In a society where pensions and savings are increasingly beyond the reach of many, is there a group of children growing up with the expectation of having to pay for their parents, as well as any other dependents they might pick up along the way in life? And isn't this going to contribute to the pressures they already experience?
I know it's hardly a new thing, to expect children to look after elderly parents, but this woman's tone suggested she thought it her absolute right. I must admit, I felt sorry for her daughter.
What do you think?