<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">He's a master at lulling us into actually believing he has come to his senses then just in a flash it's gone. These kids have the world at their feet, so much potential, all the love and support one could ask for and they continue to bite the hand that cares & feeds them.</div></div>
Truer words were never spoken. But i don't think they see it as biting the hand that feeds them. I think they see their "privacy" and "rights" as some kind of entitlement instead of a privilege they have to earn like the rest of us.
And as someone else said in another post, it seems that we boomers are primarily to blame. We invest so much in our kids that they never see the actual cost of what they have. Not having paid the cost, they don't value the thing (unless you try to take it away, then they scream bloody murder).
Someone posted a link to a site that deals with this issue, that boomer parents work too damned hard on their kids. I wish I could remember the site, because I'd pay the subscription to be a member. It's one guy, but he's 'old school' in that he thinks kids forget that their job is to one day leave the house, and that parents forget it's their job to prepare their kids for that day. I can tell you from personal experience that I've been so wrapped up in my kid's lives that I've forgotten to start teaching them (or allowing them to learn) that the world is a hard, dangerous place, and that they need to be ready for it. Instead, I filled their days with athletics, academics, and as much family time as I could possibly scrape together.
And what did it accomplish? Not much. Or, I should say that it didn't do any better than the parents down the street who let their kids run wild with no supervision, yet their kids are better off than my own.
Okay, I'm putting away the stick and stopping the self-flagellation. But to go back to your original statement, I've learned just how true that is this week. Ultimately, though, it's up to each kid as to when (or if) they "get it", and finally grow up enough to appreciate what they have (or had). Some may never get there, and some may get there later than others. But my own newfound belief is that there's not a dadgum thing I can do to change or hasten that decision, so all that's left is to focus on the things I can affect - which is my life, and my relationship with my beloved wife. My kids will have their own lives one day, and they will then have to face the challenges and costs we've struggled to bear and shield them from.
In the end, I wonder if I've done them a grave disservice in trying to give them the very thing that may have caused them the worst problems.
Time for another 'rita.
Mikey
