It’s not hard for kids to become self-entitled and egocentric in today’s society. Reality TV has shown that being rude and demanding have your own way all the time is rewarded and children are very quick to pick up on things like that. Parents too are blame, they’re very quick to jump to the defence of their children without letting them deal with issues themselves and often they’ll take the side of their child to the point of disputing school grades or phoning a teacher to have a go if their kid was punished. At the end of the day, your child’s going to have to leave home one eventually and it’s up to parents whether they want their children to be prepared for the big bad world or not. How would you treat someone who marched into the office every day and just demanded things? I don’t know about you but my reactions wouldn’t be amiable. Life’s about a give and take and if you can’t take it then you shouldn’t be dishing it out, or one day you’re going to get a nasty surprise.
Avoid
Endless, meaningless praise. Not everything they do needs a parade. Encourage specific actions with praise but not every little thing. They’re people and they’ll make mistakes, make sure you’re picking up on those as much as you’re praising the good things. No balanced person can go through life thinking they do no wrong!
Being their best mate. You’re a parent and you need to act like it. Punish when it’s needed and don’t be afraid of them getting upset or angry and you seeming like the bad guy. Life isn’t a picnic and they need to be prepared for disappointment.
Being an ATM. Money’s no meaningless thing and the sooner kids learn the value of it and the importance and joy of saving for something they really want and then getting it, the better. Set a weekly allowance and don’t be afraid to say no. Spending money stupidly leads to disappointment and doing without and learning this early will mean when they leave home they’re less likely to make a much more dramatic mistake which could lead to them going into debt!
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