Marketers may position Generation Alpha as the next big consumer cohort, but the real power behind their spending lies firmly with their Millennial and Gen X parents. From the designer sneakers children wear to the AI-powered math apps they use, it is parents who dictate the purchases—and, by extension, the market trends. For these parents, spending on their children has become a projection of their own aspirations, fears, and ambitions.
In the United States, the cost of raising a child to age 18 now exceeds $310,000, while in the United Kingdom, the figure surpasses $332,000 (£260,000) for couples. These estimates, which cover basic needs such as housing, food, education, and childcare, only tell part of the story. For affluent Millennial and Gen X parents, discretionary spending—on private tutoring, AI-powered learning apps, luxury children’s goods, and elite summer programs—adds a new, fast-expanding layer. What was once considered optional is increasingly framed as essential, as parents project their ambitions and anxieties through their children’s consumption.
In Southeast Asia, the same pattern is accelerating. In Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, rising affluence is fueling demand for premium education, designer children’s fashion, and curated experiences. Parents are investing heavily in AI-powered tutoring platforms, coding bootcamps, and high-end family travel, viewing these as critical to giving their children a competitive advantage. These purchases are not merely about comfort or entertainment; they are treated as stepping stones toward social mobility and status preservation.
This behavior—widely referred to as “projection spending”—is now a defining force in markets ranging from luxury retail to EdTech. By channeling their ambitions, values, and anxieties through their children’s consumption, Millennial and Gen X parents are reshaping sectors that were once thought to target only youth consumers. The economic power in the so-called Gen Alpha economy resides firmly with the generations raising them.
Asia’s Tiger Parents Get a Luxury Upgrade

In Southeast Asia, the traditional model of tiger parenting is evolving into an economy where affluence and ambition converge. Across markets such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, parents are increasing discretionary spending on education, designer children’s goods, and curated experiences. In Singapore alone, household spending on education has historically accounted for over 5 percent of budgets, a figure likely to rise as premiumization takes hold across the region.
Singapore exemplifies this shift. The country’s EdTech sector is projected to reach $2.2 billion by 2027, expanding at 13.6 percent annually, while across Asia, EdTech overall is forecast to grow at more than 30 percent each year through 2030. Platforms such as Geniebook, blending AI-driven personalized learning with human instruction, have become staples in middle- and upper-income households. The region’s scale is considerable, with an estimated 258 million children receiving private tuition, underscoring the depth of parental investment in academic advantage.

Image credit: Geniebook
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest Gen Alpha market, is seeing children’s fashion emerge as another arena of status spending. Brands such as Hello Alyss have capitalized on the growing demand for premium, design-focused children’s apparel, with parents treating their children’s appearance as a reflection of family identity and ambition.
In Thailand and Vietnam, rising household incomes are translating into higher spending on enrichment classes, international schools, and premium goods for children. In these markets, middle-class parents are allocating a growing share of disposable income toward products and services they believe will provide their children with an advantage, reflecting the same status-driven spending patterns seen elsewhere in the region.
Vietnamese parents remain among the region’s most education-focused, often making significant personal sacrifices to ensure access to private education and enrichment programs. This cultural commitment to education as the primary path to social mobility is now paired with growing acceptance of tech-enabled learning models and international curriculums.
Family travel has also become a key focus for status-conscious parents. In Asia-Pacific, 87 percent of Gen Alpha and Gen Z now influence family travel decisions, pushing hospitality and tourism brands to design experiences that cater directly to children’s tastes. High-end resorts in Bali and Phuket now offer educational workshops, wellness programs, and social media-friendly activities, meeting parental demand for travel that is both enriching and socially validating.
Across Southeast Asia, Millennial parents are driving the rise of a projection spending economy where success is measured not just in academic performance but in curated experiences, status goods, and global exposure. Indonesia alone is projected to become Southeast Asia’s dominant market for Gen Alpha spending, underscoring the urgency for brands to recognize that parental influence remains the decisive economic force in these markets.
America’s Status Race Starts in the Stroller Aisle

In the United States, parenting has become a public-facing performance of status, ambition, and affluence. Millennial parents, many of whom delayed starting families, are now older, wealthier, and driving a surge in spending on high-end products and experiences for their children.
The economic scale of this behavior is substantial. The estimated cost of raising a child to age 18 in the US now exceeds $310,000, but that figure obscures the additional layers of discretionary spending reshaping the parenting economy. From luxury strollers to influencer boot camps, parents are investing in their children not just for care but as extensions of their own identities and aspirations.
The rise of the baby tech economy illustrates this shift. The Snoo smart bassinet, retailing at $1,695, and the Doona stroller-car seat hybrid at $550 have become mainstream among affluent families, with sales buoyed by social media visibility. Brands such as UppaBaby dominate the luxury stroller market, with models like the Vista priced from $1,000, becoming as much a statement of parental identity as a functional item.

Image credit: UppaBaby Vista
This visibility extends to children’s own digital lives. The US remains the epicenter of the kidfluencer economy, where children on platforms like YouTube and TikTok command millions of followers and drive product demand. In recent surveys, over 55 percent of Gen Alpha parents say their children regularly request items seen in influencer content, while 37 percent of Gen Alpha tweens aspire to become influencers themselves. This dynamic has created a feedback loop where parents invest in photography equipment, curated experiences, and branded content opportunities for their children, often viewing influencer success as a new form of social capital.
The obsession with elite experiences has also reshaped the summer camp industry. Specialty camps offering STEM immersion, leadership coaching, and influencer training now charge fees exceeding $15,000 per season. Concierge services that handle packing and pre-camp preparations have emerged to serve affluent parents, further commercializing what was once a recreational pursuit.
Underlying these behaviors is a commercial system built on parental fear and aspiration. Brands have capitalized on Millennial parents’ anxieties around safety, opportunity, and social standing. Smart monitors, AI-powered tutors, and luxury camps are not marketed as indulgences, but as necessities for responsible, future-focused parenting. In this economy, good parenting is performed through purchases and curated experiences, and the market is more than ready to supply the tools and platforms to do so.
Europe’s Fewer Kids, Higher Stakes Economy

Across Europe, low birth rates have reshaped family economics, with parents concentrating resources on fewer children. In Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and France, this has translated into intensified discretionary spending per child, particularly in education, luxury goods, and curated experiences.
Luxury brands are responding. The global market for luxury children’s products is estimated at over $40 billion in 2023, with European consumers accounting for a significant share. Fashion houses such as Dior, Gucci, and Burberry have reported steady growth in their children’s lines, reflecting demand from European parents who view high-end clothing as a discreet extension of family status. While this spending is less conspicuous than in the United States or Asia, the motivations are similar—parents seeking to invest early in their children’s cultural capital.

Image credit: Baby Dior
Education is another focal point for projection spending. In the Netherlands, enrollment in bilingual and international schools continues to rise, driven by parents eager to prepare their children for a globalized economy. In Spain and France, private tutoring and enrichment programs have quietly expanded, offering bespoke language, coding, and arts instruction outside the public system. These services, often discovered through niche networks rather than overt advertising, command premium fees among affluent families.
Family travel reflects the same patterns of discreet status consumption. European parents increasingly favor experiences that blend leisure with education, such as cultural immersion trips, private art tours, or wellness retreats tailored to children. Luxury hotels and tour operators have responded with packages that offer exclusivity and enrichment, catering to parents who view travel as a formative investment rather than a vacation.
While European parents may eschew overt displays of projection spending, the underlying behaviors mirror those seen in other regions. The emphasis on quality, exclusivity, and cultural capital has created lucrative niches for brands that can align with these values without appearing ostentatious. For businesses, understanding the subtleties of Europe’s parenting economy is critical—status here is communicated through craftsmanship, education, and experience, not spectacle.
The United Kingdom’s Boutique Upbringing

In the United Kingdom, projection spending has merged the country’s traditions of elite education with a modern appetite for boutique goods and curated childhood experiences. Millennial parents, many of whom came of age during economic austerity, are driving this shift, investing heavily in their children as an expression of both ambition and status.
Private tutoring has become a cornerstone of this economy, with British families spending around $7.5 billion (£6 billion) annually. On average, households engaging private tutors allocate approximately $3,450 (£2,750) per child each year, reflecting widespread parental anxiety over academic performance and university access. The post-pandemic years have seen a surge in uptake of AI-powered tutoring platforms and personalized coaching services, further commercializing what was once considered extracurricular.
Beyond academics, the UK’s affluent families are fueling demand for boutique childhood experiences. High-end summer camps, offering coding, leadership, or arts immersion, now command fees upwards of $6,300 (£5,000) for two-week sessions, with waiting lists that mirror the country’s most prestigious private schools. Services catering to this ecosystem—such as personal shoppers and concierge camp packing—have emerged to meet demand from parents outsourcing even the logistics of these curated experiences.
Luxury children’s goods have also gained a firm foothold. British retailers report robust demand for premium baby tech, design-led nursery products, and sustainable children’s fashion, all framed as responsible investments rather than indulgences. Heritage and innovation intersect in the UK’s parenting economy, where parents seek to balance traditional markers of status, such as private education, with modern expressions of care, wellness, and exclusivity.
In the UK, projection spending may appear more restrained than in the United States or Asia, but the drivers are no less potent. The country’s parenting economy has become a hybrid of legacy privilege and boutique consumerism, creating opportunities for businesses that can straddle both. For brands, the path to British families lies in offering products and services that combine pedigree with personalization, always mindful of the country’s cultural preference for understatement over spectacle.
Projection Spending Has Become the Market
Projection spending has moved beyond a byproduct of affluence. It is now a primary engine of growth for industries as varied as private education, luxury retail, hospitality, and digital technology. Across regions, the behavior is consistent. In Southeast Asia, parents drive demand for AI-powered tutors and curated family travel. In the United States, they sustain the economies of kidfluencers, premium baby tech, and elite summer programs. In Europe and the United Kingdom, they blend heritage education with boutique experiences, using subtle consumption as a marker of status.
These are not isolated behaviors. They form a global, cross-sector economy in which children’s consumption is shaped almost entirely by the ambitions, fears, and status signaling of Millennial and Gen X parents. The result is a spending landscape where children may appear to be the target, but the decision-making authority remains firmly with the generations raising them.
Any brand that continues to approach Generation Alpha as independent consumers will misread the market. The economic power resides not in the children, but in the wallets and worldviews of their parents. Businesses that fail to account for this will struggle to capture loyalty, relevance, and market share in a consumer economy increasingly dictated by parental projection.
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