Stop Feeling Guilty

Many parents who struggle with disciplinary issues exhibit the types of behavior that actually reinforce negative behaviors in their children. Because "quality family time" is so scarce, more and more parents are reluctant to discipline their children because they don't want to ruin "family time" or "increase their own stress level."

This lack of parental involvement has created a society of "latch key kids" that think they run the household and parents who feel so guilty about not being home that they let their kids get away with almost everything. Add to the mix the guilt parents feel about working two jobs, being divorced, not having enough money, etc. and you get a society of spoiled rotten brats that feel that they are entitled to everything just because they exist.

Despite the strong work ethics that most parents have, they have not seen fit to teach this same work ethic to their children. This has led to a generation we now call the "entitlement generation," which is a generation plagued by children who want "stuff" their parents really can't afford to buy (Ipods, X-Boxes, Designer Clothes, etc.) and parents who work two jobs and still max out their credit cards to buy their children the "stuff" that they can't really afford.

Today's parents have become nothing more than ATM machines and chauffeurs for their children. Parents give children money "just because" they ask for it. They don't require their children to help around the house, they don't assign them daily chores and they don't require them to clean up after themselves. This has created a society of self-centered, selfish, unappreciative and manipulative children that expect that everything will be given to them or that everything will be done for them.

The next time you start to feel guilty about not giving something to your lazy, unappreciative children, remember that your behavior reinforces that they need "stuff" when in reality, what they really need is "discipline" and a parent who can say "NO."