Ugh, I get this from my mom all the time. My parents both grew up in homes where money was tight and have done very well financially in their adulthood. So they (in my opinion) way overvalue having stuff and services provided to them. They want me to continue to have the same standard of living they provided to me in my teens, but that's not really feasible since they had to work for many years as a dual income couple to acquire the level of wealth they have now. I am a stay at home mom because I personally value being home with my kids more than the money I could get from working right now. Also my husband and I being thirty have only had the opportunity to be in the workforce ~10 years so far (a lot of which was spent in a economic downturn so we didn't do as well as we could have done with jobs, promotions and our early investments.)
When I was looking for a place to live recently I NEEDED 4 bedrooms so that my son could have a room, we could have a nursery for the upcoming baby, and also have a guest room for her to stay in when the baby was born. Also it needed to be a house and in a fancy neighborhood despite the fact that my husband and I had to keep our expenses down. We are renting a two bedroom condo in a good but not fantastic area now and it drives her crazy.
She also tells me that I NEED:
-New furniture/decor for the new place
-To declaw my cats (to save the aformentioned new furniture that I need)
-To go to a hair salon to have my hair trimmed once a month
-To use fancy shampoo/conditioner. (Paul Mitchell for a number of years, though now she is pushing WEN)
-To buy new clothes and shoes more often and from department stores. (In part so she can enjoy shopping with me more)
-To buy and wear makeup
-Fancy preschool/daycare for my 2&1/2 year old son
-To start working again so that I can afford more things
-A new and big car/SUV to drive the kids in so they will be "safe"
At least they have backed down a lot from my college days when they basically wanted to map out my entire life for me. I have gotten a LOT of bad financial advice from them over the years because they forget that I don't always have the resources yet to make certain investments. I had to stop getting advice from them after they talked me into buying a house in 2007 with 0% down. At least I settled on a starter home rather than the huge house they were gunning for, but based on the timing of my purchase I'll leave you to guess how well THAT investment went.