Honest opinions appreciated...hot topic in our house right now
Between the two of us, we have 5 kids to guide through this crazy life, and we're trying to set in motion a specific plan for that first car. What we do/offer for the first one in line has to be feasible for the next 4 kids. Out of this has come the task of teaching responsibility, and what we see around us (well, what our kids see anyway) is a world filled with parents that give them pretty much everything, and make flimsy excuses for why they do it. Gone are the days of working for your first car, or even wanting to learn how to take care of that car. I know both Omar and I worked jobs through high school to get that bit of freedom we all waited for at the age of 16, and we both took care of whatever that first car was because we WORKED for it...it instilled in us a sense of accomplishment and the ethics of working for things you want and need. It's a valuable lesson that carries through your adult life.
I think our generation is full of parents that don't want their kids to have to do or want for anything. It's natural to want better for your kids than what you had, just as our parents tried to do for us. But, don't you feel like this generation, OUR generation, is making it so our kids won't 1) know how to care for themselves in this great big world and 2) won't have anything better to offer their own children one day? We're getting to the end of "we want better for our kids" because, IMHO, after this next generation, what's left to give?
I would love to know from the gang here, who believes in giving your kids everything they want or need over teaching them to earn it? Specifically, who here has given their kids that first car? I'm not out to bash anyone, but I want to know, honestly, if you do this to your children, what life skills do you think they're learning? ???
Between the two of us, we have 5 kids to guide through this crazy life, and we're trying to set in motion a specific plan for that first car. What we do/offer for the first one in line has to be feasible for the next 4 kids. Out of this has come the task of teaching responsibility, and what we see around us (well, what our kids see anyway) is a world filled with parents that give them pretty much everything, and make flimsy excuses for why they do it. Gone are the days of working for your first car, or even wanting to learn how to take care of that car. I know both Omar and I worked jobs through high school to get that bit of freedom we all waited for at the age of 16, and we both took care of whatever that first car was because we WORKED for it...it instilled in us a sense of accomplishment and the ethics of working for things you want and need. It's a valuable lesson that carries through your adult life.
I think our generation is full of parents that don't want their kids to have to do or want for anything. It's natural to want better for your kids than what you had, just as our parents tried to do for us. But, don't you feel like this generation, OUR generation, is making it so our kids won't 1) know how to care for themselves in this great big world and 2) won't have anything better to offer their own children one day? We're getting to the end of "we want better for our kids" because, IMHO, after this next generation, what's left to give?
I would love to know from the gang here, who believes in giving your kids everything they want or need over teaching them to earn it? Specifically, who here has given their kids that first car? I'm not out to bash anyone, but I want to know, honestly, if you do this to your children, what life skills do you think they're learning? ???