Are children spoiled these days?

[KatonRyu 1,026]

My personal feeling is that, yes, kids are spoiled these days. However, times change. I see kids these days (I'm 24, for reference) as rude, entitled little shits (no offense to any kids here, I have no doubt there are good ones) and I'm prone to thinking 'I wasn't like that when I was young' but the thing is, people always seem to have that sentiment. Times change. Maybe this is the new way of raising kids and we just think it odd because it's so different from how we were raised. Maybe we would have been the same, had all those things existed when we were younger.

 

Aren't the lines by 'the older generation' always the same? 'Kids have no respect', 'kids are spoiled' and of course the all time favorite 'In my time things were different'. Well, yes, they were. And with that, the way of raising children changes. I guess we should just accept that change and raise our own kids the best we can (for those who plan to have them, clearly)

[Steel Accord 6,658]

Growing up, my brother and I had it tough financially.  Xmas and birthdays meant something special; pricier gifts were few and far between because our mother simply couldn't afford to buy them.  Keeping the lights on and food in our bellies were the priorities.  But our mother still found a way to do something memorable when those days rolled around.  We appreciated everything that we received and had.  Even having what we needed was never a guarantee, but our mom went above and beyond to try to ensure that we didn't go without.

 

Yes.  Children nowadays are spoiled.  But you know what?  So were children back when my now thirty-two year old butt was a kid.  Many of them didn't know what it was like to struggle economically.  Some of them would outright mock the children who had less than they did.  Sometimes misfortune - even hardship - teaches you something more valuable than money or material possessions.  And any parent who spoils their child is only doing them a disservice in the long run.

 

I agree, but I don't think it's totally fair to say the the parents that do give plenty to their children are doing a disservice to them. What, should they have their kids live in dog houses until they've earned enough from lemonade stands to live in the house with them?

 

The key word is what you said earlier, appreciation. One can't be spoiled if they don't feel like all they have is entitled to them but instead comes from the work of themselves or the generosity of others. My parents told me of their lives growing up, multiple jobs, nightmarish amounts of school work, broken family lives, harassment in my mom's case, dealing with drunks in my dad's.

 

They didn't tell me to scare me though and not all at once, growing up though, I was in awe of my parents and everything they did and went through. Yet they were still happy. This taught me two things 1 ) everything that I had and indeed am is because of my parents and 2 ) there's nothing wrong with having things or not having things as long as one is grateful for what they do have.

[GrauWitz 1,010]

I'm a kid, and I'm the complete opposite of spoiled. If I want something, I have to get it with my own money. That means I have to do some work in order to earn it, then I have to save up my money for a while. I'm never lavished with gifts. The only times of the year when my parents do get me what I want are my birthday and Christmas.

 

But yes, I have to agree, A LOT of kids these days are spoiled rotten. I've seen it all. People in my year group in school with iPhone 5s and 6s, little kids with iPads, 12 year olds given Xboxes and every Call of Duty game ever. It's an absolute mess

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

I agree, but I don't think it's totally fair to say the the parents that do give plenty to their children are doing a disservice to them. What, should they have their kids live in dog houses until they've earned enough from lemonade stands to live in the house with them?

I used the word "spoils."  Any parent who spoils their child.  That is always a disservice.  Children don't need a new plaything every week.  Every new model cellphone and every current gen video game console.  Food, housing, and other essentials are not "gifts," nor are they things that ought be intentionally denied anyone.

 

And which do you think more likely?  A child who is freely and frequently given whatever their heart desires somehow developing an appreciation for their relative good fortune and material possessions?  Or a child who isn't constantly showered with nonessential gifts and gizmos developing an appreciation for what they actually do have?  Realistically.  Not according to how you may hope or want things to be.

 

And I'm so so SO tired of hearing "I don't think that's fair."  I am thoroughly acquainted with unfair.  If you genuinely consider the things I've said in this topic "unfair," you have reduced the word to the most utterly watered-down, least impactful, and largely meaningless phantom of a wisp of a residue of a word.

[Sapphire Lightning 784]

Back in my day we had to write our OWN videogames! And the few games we had, we had to write code and wait five minutes just to get to the title screen. No kids these days will have load"*",8,1 or sys49152 burned in to their brains.

 

Also had to walk 15 miles to school in 3 feet of snow, uphill, both ways!

 

Joking aside, yeah I think each generation since the 1950's has been more spoiled than the previous generation. I don't ow exactly why, but it does seem like a general cultural trend to be either lazier and to be more selfish (easy to have the TV raise the child so young parents can still play like they used to).

[Petrus 696]

Yes... There's no doubt in my mind. Everywhere I go I see 7 year olds with i phones and doc. dre beats!! My first phone was absolute shit and I got it when I was like 13...

[Steel Accord 6,658]

 

 

And which do you think more likely?  A child who is freely and frequently given whatever their heart desires somehow developing an appreciation for their relative good fortune and material possessions?  Or a child who isn't constantly showered with nonessential gifts and gizmos developing an appreciation for what they actually do have?  Realistically.  Not according to how you may hope or want things to be.

 

How about are? I was want for nothing growing up. Got plenty of toys for Christmas and went to a good high school. You know what's something my parents said to me once? 

 

"You know Anthony, you never ask for anything." I would simply shrug and say that I didn't need to,

 

"You've given me everything I've ever wanted and more." I was nine when I said this! I have retained that attitude to this day.

 

So realistically I'm not saying children aren't spoiled, if you recall you and I agreed on that. I'm only saying that if I had much in the way of material things but were grateful for all of it as well as the immaterial, why is it so much to expect that other children would feel the same?

 

 

 

And I'm so so SO tired of hearing "I don't think that's fair."  I am thoroughly acquainted with unfair.  If you genuinely consider the things I've said in this topic "unfair," you have reduced the word to the most utterly watered-down, least impactful, and largely meaningless phantom of a wisp of a residue of a word.

 

You are taking this far more combatively that anyway in which it was meant. Generalities are only fair when they are used to make decisions of course or distribution, in observation the exceptions will always become clear.

 

You made the confirmation that you meant specifically spoiling, e.g. giving without teaching proper appreciation. Okay, I agree, any lack of developing and guiding morality is negligent parenting. Completely with you on that. 

 

What I meant was not a personal charge against you as one who is unfair and I sincerely apologize. I didn't think well enough on how I worded my post.

[Geek0zoid 1,467]

It's not that kids these days are more spoiled. It's just that, there are too many soccer mom's trying to distract them from the real world and all of it's "Scary" things. Like the internet and politics.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,243]

I think this depends on the child. Honestly I think the major reason why so many kids now have different technologies so early is because the price of a lot of things has lowered considerably since when I was very little and now these things are engrained into our society.

 

I do remember watching a video from Christmas 2012 I think and it was Tweens making tweets about how they were very angry that they did not get their expensive iPhone or something. Them, yes, I would say spoiled, but I don't consider a child to be spoiled just for having a smartphone at the age of 8. That was unheard of even 8-10 years ago but those devices are very common now. Though a kid needing a phone like that is debatable.

[Sapphire Lightning 784]

I think this depends on the child. Honestly I think the major reason why so many kids now have different technologies so useless is because the price of a lot of things has lowered considerably since when I was very little and now these things are engrained into our society.

I do remember watching a video from Christmas 2012 I think and it was Tweens making tweets about how they were very angry that they did not get their expensive iPhone or something. Them, yes, I would say spoiled, but I don't consider a child to be spoiled just for having a smartphone at the age of 8. That was unheard of even 8-10 years ago but those devices are very common now. Though a kid needing a phone like that is debatable.

Yeah, that was the "white iPhone fiasco". Kids were threatening to kill their parents because they got the black/silver iPhones instead of the white one. Sad.

[Mesme Rize 15,681]

Kids are only spoiled if the parents let them be, eventhough i think that it has gotten worse over the years.

[DATA EXPUNGED 324]

My parents instilled a deep fear of disappointing them since I was very young. If I ever tried to be moody, or otherwise unruly, my father would give me the most disappointed and disgusted look that would usually straighten me out. My Father's side of the family has been very close to the military, and my father was a member of the Soviet Armed Forces before he moved to Japan, thus meeting my mother, after the USSR dissolved in 1991. He has always raised me to be disciplined and grateful. 

Edited March 4, 2015 by DATA EXPUNGED

[Lisa 5,551]

We're definitely spoilt. We live in the Information era, where anything we want to know is literally at our fingertips on our phones. We don't have to bother with writing letters, going to the library and endlessly searching through books for one little bit of information or having to go outside and finding something to play. We can simply text, google what we want to know or play a video game.

 

And let's not forget the help of globalization in which we can order something we want from another country if it isn't available in our own country. And speaking of buying things over the internet, that's new and definitely faster than what we had to do pre-Information era.

 

So comparing all of these relatively new privileges, we can obviously see living as a 13 year old in this current time is easier than one living in the 70's/80's.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Colour

[Lightwing 12,955]

Kids always have been spoiled,but is true that we live on an age where the information has taken over the youth.

 

I still remember when I got a phone,my first phone(which was shit) at the age of 16,and I still loved it,even if it wasn't a good phone. And that experience causes me go sick when I see young children(8-12 years old more often than not) screaming over their parents because they didn't got the phone that they wanted,or because they didn't got some new thing that the others have,because they're getting all what they want,meanwhile I had to get it with hard work,and effort.

 

As I said on a text that I wrote the other day for the school:

"Information has taken over the youth on an unimaginable way. More and more kids show a more hyperactive behavior due for the influence of modern technologies,and their parents don't do much to avoid that from happening.

Even if technologies have opened new ways of communication and made our lifes easier,the negative influence that causes on the young people will have terrible consequences on the future."

 

 

It's true that nowadays life is easier than it was on the past century,but there're times where parents try to overprotect their children,as pointed out,and their efforts often have bad consequences in the form of spoiled kids which have all of their necesities covered,and don't learn for themselves to be prepaired for the future.

 

 

What do I think of all this? I don't know. I've born halfway through this period,and I didn't experienced it as much as a 2000s child can live it,but is true that,sadly,spoiled kids are becoming more and more common as the technologies and other kinds of media are being improved.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Yes, children are spoiled today. It's not so much getting a lot of stuff for free as it is the lack of respect towards their parents cuz a lot of young parents want to be their kids' best friends. Sorry, but no. You're the parent, that means you're in charge. I work in retail and the number of times I have to deal with grown up brats who think that screaming and shouting is the way to get what they want makes me want to scream. These so called "adults" are the result of stupid parents giving in to tantrums and letting their kids have what they want, when they want. My parents used to put my brothers and I in the car if we threw tantrums. We didn't get what we wanted and we got to sit in the car and be bored instead of hanging out with our parents.

 

I once overheard a woman talking about how she was buying her eight year old a TV for Christmas. If I'd asked my mum for a TV for Christmas at eight, she'd have laughed at me and said "Dream on." I also heard a six year old call his mum a bitch cuz she wouldn't buy him sweets. Had I done that, I'd be dead. Even at the ripe old age of thirty five, I never swear in front of my parents. O_o

 

And of course, in the long run, children are just hurt by this when they move out and try and survive in the real world by themselves and get into debt cuz they can't comprehend a world where they don't get whatever they want, when they want.

[Twisted Cyclone 🚓 6,221]

I would say yes to some extent. The children getting iPads and cell phones when they are younger than 10 are spoiled. Not to mention those with parents who buy every single thing for them.

[wowowowo 132]

yes, yes they are. (they rack a disisprine) As many people pointed out it's retarded that parents are giving their kids iPhones for throwing temper tantrums, right that will teach them that not everything's served on a silver platter. I personally believe that kids should only get non-essentials twice a year (on their birthday and whatever big religious holiday they celebrate).

[Clockwork Chaos 219]

i think that's just something every generation feels about the younger one.

[Ze Ubermage 226]

Heck yeah they're spoiled. I should know I'm around the haters everyday. But I don't mind much any more. I'm a brony so their argument is invalid. =)

[MysticShine 529]

Depends on what you mean by spoiled, and these days. I think some kids are pretty spoiled. I look around me and see the younger ones owning I Phones and things like that. I didn't even get a phone until I was in 8th grade, and even then it was because my mom made me get one. If we're talking about the kids like me (who are older teenagers), then yeah, some of them are spoiled as well. I would by no means consider myself spoiled.  The only reason I have more than what I need, is because around Christmas time, my mom gets concerned because I didn't want any presents, and goes out and buys me stuff herself.

[techbishop 100]

Most people outside the current generation would say that kids are destined to be spoiled because of their birth in the Information Era.  Generations insulting other generations will never cease because "kids will never have it as hard as us."  In all honesty I think that a significant portion of children are spoiled these days, but most aren't.  We will remember the egregious and outrageous examples such as those kids riding in cart seats playing on their iPads whilst complaining about their welfare and how 'bad' they have it.  I seriously doubt many people remember that six-year old that gave away her Audi to charity after watching a fundraiser.

 

I admit I didn't get my first phone until 13 years and it was a generic crap phone everyone would make fun of.  A couple years later I got an iPhone and find myself complaining about its flaws and sloppy design rather than being grateful for what I have.

 

In a nutshell, how spoiled the child is depends on their parents, their environment, and their attitude.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,328]

Well, that all depends on the kid. Like people, kids have variety, growing up under different conditions and different backgrounds. It really all boils down to how their parents treated them. If a parent constantly pampered their kids by buying them everything they wanted and never disciplining them for their actions, then they will probably end up spoiled.

 

I wouldn't say these days seeing as their were spoiled kids back then. There will always be spoiled kids since there will always be parents who don't know how to do their jobs and discipline their kids or put their foot down and say, "No, you can't not have that toy."

 

If there's anything different with kids today, it's that their getting phones at earlier ages. I've seen 5th graders with phones. When I was that age all I had was my DS.

[Pastel 7,627]

Uh, it depends a lot, some children are a lot spoilt, others aren't.

But in general, I'd say yes, children receive their first phone earlier and earlier. Many of them get plenty of video games, expensive instruments etc. Because of that they become more and more arrogant and demanding, which is a big problem. :/ For example, education has clearly become harder (where I live, there's starting to be a lack of teachers because nobody wants to become one anymore...)

I'm still surprised to see parents not scolding their children when they're being undisciplined or noisy.

 

In France, we call them "enfants rois" ("king children").

Edited March 4, 2015 by Blobulle

[Spikey-Wikey 378]

Yeah, that was the "white iPhone fiasco". Kids were threatening to kill their parents because they got the black/silver iPhones instead of the white one. Sad.

Lolwut no kid ever threatened to kill they're parent because they got the wrong iphone colour.

[Sapphire Lightning 784]

Lolwut no kid ever threatened to kill they're parent because they got the wrong iphone colour.

Ok, a bit of an exaggeration... But there were reports of kids tweeting and using tumblr where they said that they hated their parents or would even disown them because they got the wrong color iPhone. There are some vids online of kids breaking down crying and yelling about it. If I could have gotten something like that as a child, I would be too busy using it to care what color it was. I guess the apple stuff is a big status symbol with some teens, tho?

Edited March 4, 2015 by GreatAndPowerfulKaty