What Kind of Children Are We Raising?

Every parent wants their children to do better and have more than they did. Some of us shower our children with elaborate gifts, big parties, expensive clothes, and accessories. Children of the working class walk around like they were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. But what happens when our children grow up expecting a certain level of living and giving that you can no longer afford to give?

My parents worked hard to provide for their children. We would have been considered the working poor, but I wouldn’t call us poor. My mother made our clothes when we were in elementary school and my father worked two jobs. They fed and clothed six kids, added on two rooms on their house and maintained two cars. Sometimes we ate breakfast for dinner and my mom would send us to the neighborhood store with bottles to redeem money to buy bread, but we never went to bed hungry.

We had chores to do after school and on Saturdays. We did not receive an allowance we worked as a family unit. When we were old enough to help our dad on his second job, (cleaning buildings) my sibling and I would go to work with him at night. During the summer I would help my mom clean other people’s houses.

Often times children today don’t see the struggles of the parents. They become self-indulgent materialistic and self-centered people that treat people that have less than they do poorly. Material things become a status symbol that they are willing to do anything to obtain and keep.

Teaching our kids how to save, set goals and survive during hard times is a skill that they will never outgrow. Teaching them to be an individual instead of trying to be like everyone else will make them better people.

Parenting isn’t easy and we all have made mistakes. My only advise is to do the best you can and give/teach you kids things that won’t lose its value.