In a way I do have a slight sympathy for the young ones,
we did it to them in the first place by not teaching them the work-ethic we all grew up with, nor insisting that education was on the same track too.
However, that being said, it was a choice we as parents all had to make, and I chose to do my best to instil that ethic in my own Fiddlers Three.
While I
was on the Sole-Parent pension I rarely got much actual money from it, I held a part-time job (15hrs pw), started and grew a gardening round and did fancy cakes on commission on the side, I ended up doing about 5-10 per month of those with a minimum charge of $100, up to over $1000 for a wedding cake (depending on just how fancy or large they wanted it, lol)
I have followed the same approach while on the DSP, I have been on it for just over ten years, and was pushed onto it by Centrelink to begin with, but have only actually been paid money for less than ONE year in all that time, I worked for as long as I could drag my sorry old a*se out that door.
And YES, every single hour and dollar was reported, and taxed, I've found that if you play a straight bat with life and Gov' Depts you have a much easier road to follow, plus I was setting an example for the kids, they'll learn from what YOU do better than what you
say, it's just the way it is.
As I said though, my sympathy
is limited, those youngsters can make a conscious decision to get a job, where that is possible, and if they choose not to then they deserve whatever they don't get.
Mine are all full-time workers with multiple qualifications and study part-time still, and have held second jobs whenever they felt the need or had the time, they have even felt
guilty doing that because they might be denying someone else a job. I just told them they deserved whatever they got, they worked at getting that job in a competitive market so shut up and get on with it, silly!
Also, yes, I do like to brag, I worked
hard for that right!