How to raise an entitled child

Entitlement is the cultural buzzword for the millennial generation. But I’m not sure people really know what that means. They just know they’re annoyed when a young person won’t say thank you. The dictionary definition of entitlement is “to give a right or legal title to; to qualify (a person to do something)”. That doesn’t sound so bad. What exactly, are we qualifying our children to do?

Be happy, confident adults with secure self-images? To grow up without emotional baggage or incurable heartache? To form strong family connections and know how to love and marry someone for life? To be satisfied in a career that makes the world a better place? To put other people’s needs first; to value kindness and servanthood?

Hmm. Sounds refreshing, but not typical.

Or has our generation, in desperate pursuit to feel special ourselves, wrecked our homes, unraveled our children’s security, and offered them an array of hobbies and educational choices to fill the void?

From my years of parenting and teaching children and teenagers, I’ve come up with 12 tips for raising an entitled child. I hope you will do the opposite.

1. Present them with any array of choices, from age 2 on up
2. Help them to focus on externals (style, clothes, popularity, money, etc.)
3. Provide enough entertainment, so they are never bored
4. Pay them to help you do chores around the house
5. Keep them insulated against diverse economic and ethnic environments
6. Solve their problems and keep track of their responsibilities for them
7. Worship their success and criticize their failures
8. Allow them to make excuses and blame others for their wrong choices
9. Give up all your free time to carpool and watch their activities
10. Use manipulation and reverse psychology to get them to behave
11. Give them the best of everything, or at least enough money to buy what they want
12. Never tell them “no”

I’m sure you have opinions about my list, or you have a list of your own, so please share your perspective with us! Thank you!

 

 

Definition from Webster’s New World Dictionary, 2nd Ed., 467. image from http://www.crestock.com