Spoiled Brat Kids

Two news stories, one on CNN and the other in my local newspaper, aroused some thoughts over the past few days.

The story on CNN concerned parents bemoaning the high price of tickets to Hanna Montana. Now I don't really know what that is but there was a woman on there saying she had to pay much higher than the face value to get tickets for her kids because there were none available at face value. First of all, I see nothing wrong with scalping tickets to concerts, sporting events etc. I mean, if Exxon/Mobil or any other oil company can make billions of dollars a year selling us gasoline at jacked-up prices, why can't some other company or individual make a profit selling tickets at a high price if people are willing to pay for it? but that isn't what this post is about. Excuse me lady, but no one is forcing you to buy those tickets for your kids. There is such a thing as saying "no...I'm sorry; we can't afford it" or whatever. I have been fortunate enough to be able to get my kids...and occasionally myself... to a few concerts and sporting events. But there is a limit as to how much I will pay. Hundreds of dollars for tickets to a college football game? Hah! Forget about it!

The other item was about services employed by college students to clean their dorm rooms, frat rooms or apartments because they are too busy (lazy?) to do it themselves. These services, according to the article, are paid for not by the students, but by their parents! (Who are probably paying for at least part of their tuition, computers, even cars!) Wow! Talk about spoiled!

Buying your kids everything and fulfilling their every desire is not going to make them better people. They will just expect everything to be given to them and done for them as they go through life, and that isn't the way things work. I don't consider myself the world's best parent but here is how things work in the Shack household: The kids are expected to keep their rooms "reasonably" neat and clean, and to help with keeping the rest of the house neat and clean as well. There is no cleaning service here. Every 2 weeks there is "cleaning day" when everyone has a certain job to do. They are also expected to do their own laundry. No laundry service here. Each day at dinnertime each of us (myself included) has a job that involves getting dinner on the able and/or cleaning up afterward. When groceries are brought in, the guys unload them from the car into the house and the gals put the stuff away. I don't know how my kids will turn out once they are out on their own, but hopefully this is teaching them to do some things for themselves rather than throwing away their hard-earned money paying someone else to do it.

So Sayeth The Shack