DO WE DO TOO MUCH FOR OUR KIDS?

Do they feel entitlement?

After passing the initial interview for a managerial position in a prominent company, this young person had to meet with the director.

He saw that the youth had excellent academic achievements.  And asked if he had obtained any scholarships in school.  The young person, said no.

The director wanted to know who paid for his school fees, “was it your father?”, he asked.  The youth told him no, his father passed away when he was just a year old.  And said his mother had paid.

Then he wanted to know where his mother worked, and he told him she cleaned clothes to make money.

The director asked to see the youth’s hands, he saw that they were smooth and perfect.  So he wanted to know if he had ever helped his mother wash clothes.  The youth told him he had never helped her because she wanted him to study all the time.  And she could do it faster, anyway.

Then the director asked him to do something before he comes back the next day.  He wanted him to go home and wash his mother’s hands.

This young person felt his chance of getting this job was very good. So when he got home he asked his mother if he could wash her hands.  She thought it was a strange request, but of course put her hands out to him.

He started washing her hands, slowly.  As he did, tears fell down his cheeks.  This was the first time he had noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled and bruised.  Some of them were so painful she flinched a little when he touched them.

 

This was the first time he realized how hard she worked and what it did to her, to send him to school.  It’s the price she had to pay to get the youth a good education and future.

When he finished washing her hands, he quietly, did the rest of the clothes for her.  That night they sat together and talked for a really long time.

The next day when he went to the director’s office, the youth got tears in his eyes, talking about his mother and washing her hands.  The director asked him what he had learned.

He told him how he had washed his mother’s hands and then finished washing the clothes that were left to do.  And he had learned that without his mother, he wouldn’t be where he is, or who he is, today.  He’d learned to really appreciate her.  By helping her he learned how hard it is to get things down on your own.  And now he knew how important helping family is and to value them.

The director was very pleased, he was looking for someone that wasn’t just making money as their only goal in life.  He wanted a manager that could appreciate the help of others, and know the sufferings of others to get things done.

He said “You’re hired”!

This young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his employees.  They all worked diligently and as a team. The company’s performance improved tremendously.

 

 

When we over-protect and always give our children whatever they want, they develop a sense of entitlement.  And always put themselves first.  They have no idea of their parents hard work.

So when they start working they just assume that everyone will and must listen to them.  If they become a manager, and have people under them, they don’t understand the sufferings they go through and will always blame others.

They may be good academically, and they’ll probably be successful for a while.  But eventually they don’t feel a sense of achievement.  They will become full of hatred and fight for more.

So by parenting this way, are we really showing love or are we destroying their future?

You can let your child live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch TV on a big screen. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is that your child learns how to appreciate the effort, and experience the difficulties in life.  They need to  learn the ability to work with others to get things done.

 

Try to forward this story to as many as possible…this may change somebody’s fate.