Money, commuting time and poor social skills taking a heavy toll on Thai families

[tbthailand]

Whilst I agree with the article, except the figures. It is happening all over the world. Even in my home nation, the UK. Although Thailand is behind in many ways, I still feel they have a much better family/social interaction, although they are catching up with health problems, like the West. They are rapidly catching up with social issues and the negative use of social media etc.

The Mai Bpen Rai attitude is a ' killer' in my opinion, As the modern banking world and credit does not acknowledge this principle, The current state of peope are in a transition period, understanding it.

What Annoyes me is the blatant deire for social recognition and the social climber attitude. Luckily I was taught the right values,that ment never be complacent, always strive to improve and in Thai terms, never accept the sabai sabai attitude. I thank my Parents and Granparents for instilling that in me, to constantly strive to improve through hard work. i hope and wish that the majourity of Thais would take these wise words too.

yes, it does happen around the world...

one of the biggest differences that I see is the separation of parents and kids when the parents "need" to go to Bangkok or elsewhere for work... when it is not permanent work, the kids stay home and there is often an 8 hour or longer trip in between the parents and the kids. IMO that is even harder on families than long commutes and long hours.

[Rimbuman]

Thailand has been slowly churning towards personal stagnation for a long time, the education system is in part the problem and we need it now the other part , Thai's want everything the west has, the problem is that Thailand isn't the west, but you can't deny them the trimmings of the west , so you have a slow drift towards a country that has become intolerant towards each other, locked to world economic situations, over loaded in personal dept , with a family unit that has little or no income , this causes more problems than Prayut - O section 44, mind the future looks bleak for quite a few in the West, but even more so in places like Thailand and despite good intentions it will continue while the present mindset of the Thai establishment continues on its ruling way, the Thai people need better leadership, direction and governance , this will not happen under the present system

Why not? It seems to improve day by day to me.

[chainarong]

Thailand has been slowly churning towards personal stagnation for a long time, the education system is in part the problem and we need it now the other part , Thai's want everything the west has, the problem is that Thailand isn't the west, but you can't deny them the trimmings of the west , so you have a slow drift towards a country that has become intolerant towards each other, locked to world economic situations, over loaded in personal dept , with a family unit that has little or no income , this causes more problems than Prayut - O section 44, mind the future looks bleak for quite a few in the West, but even more so in places like Thailand and despite good intentions it will continue while the present mindset of the Thai establishment continues on its ruling way, the Thai people need better leadership, direction and governance , this will not happen under the present system

You failed to mention that most Thai families are also distended and fragmented!

You could put in a whole heap of circumstances phrisco 17, any country that back in 1998 paid 10 thousand BHT a month in wages and still pay's that in 2015 and power and fuel charges not far below those in OZ you are heading for big problems

[HenryB]

Any fool can save money but

Thais are two good to stop spending money they do not have.

They are nickle millionaires

[HenryB]

two days ago I showed my 40 year old Thai girlfriend how I keep track of every baht spent.

I said this is how much money there is each month, and where it goes. I cannot spend more that X amount each month. "impossible."

I subtracted fixed costs like rent and utilities and then divided the difference by 30 days.

"this is how much baht per day we can spend for everything, if we spend more then the next day we have to spend less."

she had never seen a budget before or one that projected FORWARD for planing purposes.

or ever thought about how much money she needs per month or year to live.

so i showed her how much she needs over the next twenty years.

I think maybe it was a mistake because today she looks a little sad.

one good thing is I am always telling her she does not need all the crap that the western style advertising is brainwashing Thais into thinking they need.

Sounds good but your TG is going to ask you for more money to save for her old age

[trogers]

Thailand has been slowly churning towards personal stagnation for a long time, the education system is in part the problem and we need it now the other part , Thai's want everything the west has, the problem is that Thailand isn't the west, but you can't deny them the trimmings of the west , so you have a slow drift towards a country that has become intolerant towards each other, locked to world economic situations, over loaded in personal dept , with a family unit that has little or no income , this causes more problems than Prayut - O section 44, mind the future looks bleak for quite a few in the West, but even more so in places like Thailand and despite good intentions it will continue while the present mindset of the Thai establishment continues on its ruling way, the Thai people need better leadership, direction and governance , this will not happen under the present system

You failed to mention that most Thai families are also distended and fragmented!

You could put in a whole heap of circumstances phrisco 17, any country that back in 1998 paid 10 thousand BHT a month in wages and still pay's that in 2015 and power and fuel charges not far below those in OZ you are heading for big problems

Cashiers of 7-eleven were getting Bt6,000 a month in 1998 and at double that now.

[khunpa]

Damn that article! Just lost the happiness argument :-(

[MaiChai]

Thailand is traditionally a place where they make things cheaply and export to the world. Now that Thailand is more expensive than a lot of places it has to work harder to remain cheap and compete with other cheap places. This makes salaries and work conditions low. Poor education means that Thailand cannot move up the ladder to 2nd world. Thus it remains in this dilemma.

Poor infrastructure and promoting car ownership leads to congested, dangerous roads and long commutes for people. More time travelling to and from work and less time for families, etc.

[Johpa]

How does Thailand break this habit--Mostly in rural areas kids are born

The traditional "rural areas" are now fading into the past. This has been discussed in the academic literature. There has never been a tradition of modern parenting in Thailand. In the traditional areas, it was usually the grandparents who raised the children. The current intense urbanization trend, void of multi-generational households, has only exacerbated this weakness in Thai society. And don't waste your time looking for good parenting role models on Thai TV.

[tonbridgebrit]

So, Thais feel that they don't have enough money. And they spend a lot of time commuting to work, and they don't have the skills to have quality time with their families.

Sounds like to me a load of people from Britain and America. Maybe those Australians as well.

[chainarong]

Thailand has been slowly churning towards personal stagnation for a long time, the education system is in part the problem and we need it now the other part , Thai's want everything the west has, the problem is that Thailand isn't the west, but you can't deny them the trimmings of the west , so you have a slow drift towards a country that has become intolerant towards each other, locked to world economic situations, over loaded in personal dept , with a family unit that has little or no income , this causes more problems than Prayut - O section 44, mind the future looks bleak for quite a few in the West, but even more so in places like Thailand and despite good intentions it will continue while the present mindset of the Thai establishment continues on its ruling way, the Thai people need better leadership, direction and governance , this will not happen under the present system

You failed to mention that most Thai families are also distended and fragmented!

You could put in a whole heap of circumstances phrisco 17, any country that back in 1998 paid 10 thousand BHT a month in wages and still pay's that in 2015 and power and fuel charges not far below those in OZ you are heading for big problems

Cashiers of 7-eleven were getting Bt6,000 a month in 1998 and at double that now.

U sure of that, or is it just coming out of the till .