The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money

by Ron Lieber

I asked Pippa’s father, Ed Biddle, for his take, and he isn’t ready to write off all such trips for all teens. He encourages parents to consider four things. First, who are the leaders? If they are real grown-ups with expertise in the region, then there might be some educational value to the program. Second, does the work to be done leverage the skills of the participants? And if they don’t have any skills, how exactly will they be helping? Third, he suggests taking a careful look at how the program is being sold, and by whom. Is it a for-profit operation marketing the beauty of the region or an organization that focuses mostly on the needs of a community and how to help? Finally, he would never send a child on a trip like this with a friend, since preformed cliques can prevent kids from learning from one another. Pippa thinks her father’s list is pretty good, but she would add similar questions to the one that Lucy Gilchrist raised when she first wrote to me: What are your goals, and can you meet them in some other way than by spending a lot of money doing work far away?