some thoughts that were getting too rambly for twitter

[hopeandmemory]

I just read this article by Lisa Belkin at the Huffington Post and I find myself a little frustrated, I guess. She says that the rampant helicopter parenting and spoiling of children is just emblematic of a society that prizes getting to the top of the mountain first instead of learning how to be a functional adult. I guess in some ways that's true

Comments

[burger]

DEFINITELY AGREE. You probably saw some of this in the behaviour of my former housemates, I definitely did. Their parents did too much for them and some of them came from pretty well-off families who bought them whatever they wanted. Not that being rich automatically = being spoiled, but when your dad buys you two new Blackberries straight away after you get drunk and lose them, then... yeah, haha. They had no concept of cleaning up after themselves and that's just unthinkable to me. How could you be raised in a way that lets you think that leaving things to have MOULD growing on them was acceptable? I guess their parents always cleaned up for them but when you move out and have your own place you HAVE TO CLEAN AND TAKE VARIOUS GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES.

I mean, I know my parents would always help me out if I needed it, and when I'm at home I do get on with them to the extent that we're like friends (most of the time, anyway...) but there have always been lines that I just knew never to cross growing up that kids these days just don't seem to have, and it's damaging their lives and their parents' lives. I see kids these days being rude to their parents, siblings, or strangers, throwing tantrums in public and shit like that and it absolutely boggles my mind. My parents joke that I was born middle aged because I was really quiet and never did anything like that, screaming for the sake of screaming or whatever, but it horrifies me that it seems to be the "normal" thing these days that kids do all that crap and it's fine and people coo over how cute they are. They are not :| Parenting is tough enough without making it worse for yourself by coddling and spoiling your kids to the extent that they think screaming will get them what they want at once and that they don't need to lift a finger to help, ever.