This year, wealthy parents in Beverly Hills are using a new method to scare their children into behaving. Instead of using classic monsters like the Bogeyman, mother of three Tabitha Jerkins says she finds it more effective to talk to her children about the “Middle Class Monster.”
“I always eat my vegetables,” says Hunter Jerkins, age five. “If I don’t, Mommy says the Middle Class Monster is gonna take me away in its Toyota.” Gwyneth Jerkins, seven, is also frightened by the Monster. “I can sometimes hear it under my bed at night telling me I have to save money,” she said.
Beef Jerkins, nine, added, “If I’m really bad, the Working Class Ghoul will put me in public school!”
“I think it’s an effective way to teach my children to disassociate from the riffraff outside our gated community,” explained Bill Jerkins, their father. “I guess the supernatural just isn’t as scary as the idea of people we consider below ourselves.”
