Pampered kids
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-465185/Pushover-parents-pampered-children.html
Pushover parents, pampered children
By JUDITH WOODS
Last updated at 16:09 30 June 2007
A combination of indulgent parents and ever more demanding children is producing a generation of ill-mannered brats. And we are storing up major problems for the future if we don't change our approach to parenting
They kit themselves out daily in clothes and accessories worth £700. Their mobile phones are better than ours, they have busier social lives and access to money on demand.
And demand they do: whether it's the latest jeans or a computer upgrade, instant gratification is the byword, and refusal is not an option.
Welcome to the pampered existence of today's children, a place where pester power rules and parents are milked like cash cows.
If that all sounds a little harsh, cast your mind back to the last time you stood your ground as your nine-year-old begged for yet another pair of trainers, or your 14-year-old threatened to fail his exams unless he could go out with his friends midweek ? bankrolled by you?
Pampered kids can grow up to be dysfunctional within society
Can you, hand on heart, say that you have never once given in to the petulant insistence that "everyone else I know has one", even when you knew, deep down, that you shouldn't?
We all love our children, want them to succeed and will do anything we can to give them the best start in an increasingly competitive world.
We hate it when they're unhappy, and recoil when they shout, and sometimes taking the path of least resistance seems easier ? after all, the other parents are all doing it.
But the message we are sending out to our children is that they should expect the things they want in life to be handed to them on a plate.
And according to an increasing number of experts, our pushover parenting is doing more harm than good.
So why do modern parents find it so difficult to say no? Could we be doing
Pushover parents, pampered children
By JUDITH WOODS
Last updated at 16:09 30 June 2007
A combination of indulgent parents and ever more demanding children is producing a generation of ill-mannered brats. And we are storing up major problems for the future if we don't change our approach to parenting
They kit themselves out daily in clothes and accessories worth £700. Their mobile phones are better than ours, they have busier social lives and access to money on demand.
And demand they do: whether it's the latest jeans or a computer upgrade, instant gratification is the byword, and refusal is not an option.
Welcome to the pampered existence of today's children, a place where pester power rules and parents are milked like cash cows.
If that all sounds a little harsh, cast your mind back to the last time you stood your ground as your nine-year-old begged for yet another pair of trainers, or your 14-year-old threatened to fail his exams unless he could go out with his friends midweek ? bankrolled by you?
Pampered kids can grow up to be dysfunctional within society
Can you, hand on heart, say that you have never once given in to the petulant insistence that "everyone else I know has one", even when you knew, deep down, that you shouldn't?
We all love our children, want them to succeed and will do anything we can to give them the best start in an increasingly competitive world.
We hate it when they're unhappy, and recoil when they shout, and sometimes taking the path of least resistance seems easier ? after all, the other parents are all doing it.
But the message we are sending out to our children is that they should expect the things they want in life to be handed to them on a plate.
And according to an increasing number of experts, our pushover parenting is doing more harm than good.
So why do modern parents find it so difficult to say no? Could we be doing