As a person with multiple children and grandchildren, I truly understand people who want more for their children, and I even understand those who spoil their children by giving them the things their parents would have never given them or approved of, but let\u2019s examine our relationship with our children shall we.\u00a0 Almost everything done in America today no matter what they do will try and tie it to some cause associated with children.\u00a0 Politicians want our votes so that they can secure our children\u2019s futures, Educators want more money so that they can better prepare our children for the future; the police will violate every paragraph in the constitution in the name of protecting children (a good thing).\u00a0 Have you ever heard someone say \u201cI want my children to be better off than I am\u201d?\u00a0 How about we have to secure our future for the children, or if we don\u2019t do this, that or the other thing our children will pay the price?\u00a0 I hear these statements over and over again, almost daily, and sometimes find myself wondering, can these people be serious?\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve ever said any of the above statements, I\u2019ve got news for you.\u00a0 Your children and mine were born better off than us, and if they aren\u2019t succeeding in life, it\u2019s mostly our fault.\u00a0 In case you\u2019ve forgotten our parents didn\u2019t baby us and buy us the world, they made sure that we learned to take care of ourselves and survive in the world, but not us, with our kids.\u00a0 How many of you ever rode your bike or skate board with knee pads and a helmet on?<\/strong>\u00a0 Not only did we not wear helmets or pads, if we fell, our parents made us get up and try it again.\u00a0 I remember once my brother Harry and I built a bike from scrap parts and forgot to hook up the brake. When I got on to take the first ride and realized that the brakes didn\u2019t work I decided to stick my right foot between the tire and frame to slow down, turns out that was a really bad idea only realized when my foot got stuck and I was going head first over the handle bars.\u00a0 \u00a0My mom patched me up, and my dad laughed like hell, but neither ran out and purchased a helmet and they surely didn\u2019t make us stop riding our bikes. <\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n From a wealth standpoint our children are significantly better off than we were, if for no reason because we\u2019ve spoiled them by giving them everything in life, and bailed them out at every opportunity.\u00a0 We defend them when they do wrong, we spoil them with all the riches that we never had, we buy them nice cars, the best clothes, cell phones, computers and yes even help them purchase homes. I purchased my first car for $125 when I was 18 from a junk yard after working for weeks and saving for it; before that I walked or caught the bus to get from point A to B.\u00a0 My mom and dad never owned a new car, so there was no way I could expect them to buy something for me to drive and at that time I didn\u2019t know any kid in my neighborhood who had a car paid for by his or her parents.\u00a0 Given what my generation had to work for, it amazes me that today\u2019s middle class parents will go into debt to purchase fancy new cars for 16, 17 and 18 year old kids to drive.\u00a0 Once they\u2019ve purchase that new ride for Jr., and get the bill for the insurance, they promptly call their insurance agent and complain about the rate being too high.\u00a0 Yep that\u2019s right, get a teenager a new car that they\u2019ll probably wrap around a pole in the next six months and expect the rate to be that of a 40 year old.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to be a hypocrite, so in the interest of full disclosure, I did purchase pre owned cars for all of my children when they turned 17 if their GPA was at least 3.0, but they all had very strict restrictions, most importantly if your GPA dropped and you lost your discount for being a good student, hand over the keys!\u00a0 Yes, I too am one of the parents who spoiled my children far too much and now I\u2019ve started on my grandchildren.\u00a0 I remember once in 1998 a co-worker and I decided to go through our check books and add up how much money we each had either given, loaned or spent on our children over a 6 month period and I have to say that I was shocked when I saw those numbers, I seriously had no idea it was so much.\u00a0 I only wish that I could say that this experience showed me the error of my ways, but honestly even today if I get that emergency call, text message or email, good ole dad shows up with cash in hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n People, our children are so much better off than we are and they were born that way.\u00a0 They have many more amenities in life, for the most part they are better educated, get better jobs and make a hell of a lot more money at young ages than most of us did.\u00a0 If we would just pull those Silver Spoons from their mouths and let them grow into their own; if we just take the helmets and knee pads off, show them how to pay their own way, let them walk if they can\u2019t pay for their own rides, and do without the \u201cStuff\u201d in life that they want but don\u2019t need and many times can\u2019t afford.\u00a0 I know what you\u2019re thinking; I\u2019m a parent or grandparent, I can\u2019t just say no to my children and grandchildren, but I\u2019m telling you that we have to if we truly want them to be better off.\u00a0 Many of you reading this grew up poor as did I, so when I look at my children and grandchildren, there is no doubt, they were comparatively born with silver spoons in their mouths, and so did everyone of yours, weather you\u2019re willing to admit it or not.\u00a0<\/p>\n As parents we can\u2019t allow the politicians and others to use our children as pawns to tell us how bad off we are in the greatest country in the world.\u00a0 Even people born poor in America will be better off than their parents were and there is no argument that can be made to the contrary.\u00a0 If you want to keep giving your children the world, that\u2019s ok with me, but let\u2019s all stop saying we\u2019re doing it for the kids, or that we\u2019re concerned they won\u2019t be better off because anyone with eyes should be able to clearly see that they are!<\/p>\n I\u2019m just sayin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a person with multiple children and grandchildren, I truly understand people who want more for their children, and I even understand those who spoil their children by giving them the things their parents would have never given them or … Continue reading