Ever run across someone that gives their children everything?
All the latest clothes, electronic gadgets, extracurricular activities, lavish weddings, education, you name it they have it.
And then you find out the parents are struggling to keep their heads above water financially. (Note: the parents aren’t always in financial jeopardy but I find it’s a common theme.)
Not “we’re just getting by.” No.
I mean one month they don’t pay cable, another month they miss the electric bill; the rent gets paid late; always something and always “it’s for the kids!”
When you talk to these people they take great pride that they provide for their kids. They insist that their kids have the best even when it’s out of the parent’s means.
The problem though, comes when the kids start to expect a certain lifestyle with nothing in return (read: they’re spoiled). When you get stuff just for asking without having to work for it then the stuff you get starts to lose value. That may sound like it doesn’t make sense but it does. When you keep getting things you don’t worry about what happens to it. Why should you? If you break that new toy or lose it you’ll just ask for another one or for whatever else is new out there. It’s a cycle that builds a certain negative character in a child that they take to their adult life.
Of course the other problem is the parents that can’t afford the lifestyle they are creating for their kids. It creates debt which creates stress. And somewhere down the line it has to stop and the child is left wondering what they did wrong that they can’t have their cushy lifestyle anymore.
