My kids are grown and on their own now, so maybe my perspective is out of whack, but it seems to me that in recent years our society has begun to almost 'worship' childrenand youg people.

The mantra of so many parents and politicians seems to be "we've got to do it for the kids' and I wonder just when enough is enough.

So many young people coming out of high school and college seem to have such a sense of entitlement after being "coddled" their whole lives, that the real world is quite a shock to them. I think perhaps we've done too much for our children, and in turn have done them a great disservice.

Personal responsibility is for so many a foreign concept. I read a newspaper article a couple months ago that attempted to create hero status for a college student who had couragiously called 911 when a girl at an underage college binge drinking party nearly died of alcholhol poisoning. As if it was above and beyond normal responsibilities of a 19 year old to save the life of a friend when he was taking the obvious risk of being ticketed for underage drinking.

This is just a quick rant by the way! I really do like children and young people. You know what they say, "Children are our greatest natural resource." Hmmmm......I wonder if we could use them to generate elctricity?

Western Europeans have long held the belief that Americans lavish much too much attention on their kids.

But weren't those the countries whose asses we pulled out of the fire in WWII-France and England, at least?

I gotta go along with the idea that too much attention can be bad, but then too little is just as bad, it's tough to know just how much to give.

They gotta know that you are there, either to help when needed or to chastise them when they are outta line.

It's not really attention that's the problem. It's that American parents (or at least a lot of them) seem to think that their little darlings can do no wrong and are *entitled* to only the best.

I see kids with new $20K cars in the high school parking lot. I see kids with sidekicks and designer clothes. I see kids saying things to their parents in public that would have resulted in a hide tanning at my house. Like Chief Engineer said - they seem to have a sense of entitlement. I instilled in my son a sense that to get ahead you need to work your ass off at times, and that if you want something you get it through work, not cause daddy doesn't want you to go without.

/rant

> It's not really attention that's the problem. It's
> that American parents (or at least a lot of them)
> seem to think that their little darlings can do no
> wrong and are *entitled* to only the best.
>
IMO, it's laziness, rather than attention or lack of it. It's easier to placate the kids and avoid the confrontation, than deal with it by teaching or discipline as necessary. My BIL will go out of his way, and give up lunch, to take my niece home rather than listen to her whine or pout about our lunch choice.


> I see kids with new $20K cars in the high school
> parking lot. I see kids with sidekicks and designer
> clothes. I see kids saying things to their parents in
> public that would have resulted in a hide tanning at
> my house.

That's because anymore, a good hide tanning results in legal action.

You may be on to something there Nailbone. Laziness might have something to do with it.

I also wonder about avoiding confrontation - how many parents give in to their kids to avoid a "scene"? Or maybe the parents are too involved in their own things that they don't want to take the time to correct the kids.

Whatever the reasons, there are many kids today that are out of control.

Don't stop feeding them or they won't grow up and move out.