Being a parent is a tough job. You never know if you are doing things right for your child, although your sole wish is to have a happy and fulfilled kid who will grow into a successful adult. However, many parents choose the easiest way to make their kid happy.
Unfortunately, the easiest way isn’t always the best way. The problem with today’s generation of parents is that they think that showering their children with gifts whenever they wish for one is doing the right thing.
Unfortunately, this creates a generation of ungrateful and spoiled children who think that everything in the world is unconditionally theirs for the taking. And how does it get to this? Lots and lots of ‘everything my child desires.’
It’s true that every parent wants to see their children happy and fulfilled. However, this doesn’t always mean that their every wish has to be satisfied for the mere reason that it’s your child who expresses that wish.
So, what many parents do is they shower their children in gifts and work their souls off to satisfy the new demands from their child. You will see children playing games on their iPhones at age 5, and living with their noses high in the clouds as their mommy and daddy fulfill their every new request ‘to be happy’.
This damaging behavior teaches the children that love is expressed and measured in items bought. Soon they start learning of the price of things, but not their true value. And what’s more valuable than genuine love and affection? Not toys and gadgets for sure.
This unhealthy attitude toward life and its true values will inevitably turn the innocent child into a lazy, arrogant, and spoiled one, who cannot see the true worth of communication and bonding with others.
They will start defining life in the measure of possessions, rather than the connection they have with those around them. This derailing from the actual reality will make them too hard to handle for other people, and they will never look at love as an emotion, but rather as giving material things.
Remember parents, showering your child with gifts may make them happy for the moment, but that happiness will not last for long. Life is about people and time spent together, not about possessions.
The job of a parent is not that of a wishing machine – life is not a wishing machine. You should know that some decisions will not make your kid smile, and that’s just normal. And while the easiest way is to fulfill their every wish, the healthiest way is to talk things through and have them understand the reason behind your decision to say no.
Make a difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’ and discuss this difference with your children. Spend time with them and bond with them. Real love is stronger and lasts longer than any material thing.
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A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
