Yeah, I definitely agree with that.
I grew up with a very privileged upbringing, but I wouldn't call myself spoiled. I've been working since I was 16, and I work very hard in college. Besides the major things that are out of my reach to pay for, such as a car and college fees, I pay for absolutely everything that I do or buy. I'm experienced with managing money as a result and banking.
I'd say a lot of that is to do with myself though. I have a go-getter attitude and have always liked to do things for myself and establish myself as a person. My parents have always taught us to be very gracious for everything we get, and while my brother is gracious and a sweet boy, he pretty much sits around and plays video games all day. My parents are going nuts trying to get him to get a job. He doesn't cook or clean or do laundry.
He has no life skills because our mother doesn't everything for him. It's just in her nature, she feels like she has to do things for us. I have to actively tell her that she doesn't have to, say, take my laundry in my room and do it for me, because I'm 20 years old and I had better be doing my own laundry.
She's finally stopped, thank god. She was ruining my dresses the way she was doing it.
I would say I would raise my child similarly to how I was raised in terms of what I was given, though I would put more of an emphasis on molding a useful person. If I didn't insist on going away to college, I'd probably be 20 and still not know how to do my laundry or cook or anything. I'd also make my child get a job as soon as they turn 16/17. I really really believe in the importance of a job, especially aty bottom of the rung job, like retail and fast food. It teaches you that if you don't work hard, you'll end up working at one of those places your entire life.
tl-dr; When someone implies that I'm spoiled because I have nice things that I BOUGHT, through my own hours of hard work, I become incensed like nothing else. And these always tend to be people without a job, who don't have anything just because they won't make the effort to get it themselves. I call this envy theatre - the act of getting on a high horse and whinging about being a better person for not having anything, while secretly envying the ability to buy nice things, because they don't actually have a job or work. People at college are notorious for that crap.






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