Consider these two parenting scenarios from psychologist, John Rosemond:
• An 18-year-old daughter graduated from High School, and for a graduation gift her parents paid for her and her 20-year-old-boyfriend to tour France for two weeks.
• A couple celebrated their son’s completion from kindergarten with cap and gown, invitations, tears of joy and an elaborate graduation party celebrated overseas in Windsor, England, at the largest of the six worldwide LEGOLAND parks.
Anyone reading these two situations would agree that this is over the top parenting, and yet it is actions such as these that promote an attitude of entitlement in children. These kids will likely grow up to be unhappy, self-centered, impatient, and disrespectful …show more content…
An infant cries, asking for food or to be made comfortable. According to James Lehman, MSW, a renowned child behavioral therapist, as soon as your child begins to talk, he/she starts asking for things. Familiar patterns are, “Can I have this, Mom? I want it now.” Society is giving parents and children powerful, false messages. Lehman suggests one of the most prevalent is, “The more you give your child, the better parent you are.” Commercials, friends, and movies all tell kids, “This is the new thing. Everybody’s getting it and if you don’t have one you’re not cool.” Parents then feel obligated to purchase these items, and the child grows expecting to be given more than necessary.
“If you give kids so much early on, they get to a point where they can’t be satisfied with anything,” says Dan Kindlon, a clinical and research psychologist at Harvard University. Parents can teach children the value and responsibility of hard work by doing age appropriate chores around the home. Experts say, many moms and dads shower children with gifts and never require them to earn something on their own. A psychologist from Harvard Medical School, Richard Bromfield, PhD, posits, “If you get everything, you don’t learn gratitude. If you never have to wait, you don’t learn