Gratitude:
Noun
The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Synonyms
gratefulness – thankfulness – thanks – appreciation
Entitlement:
Noun
The fact of having a right to something.
The amount to which a person has a right.
Synonyms
right – title – warrant
(Provided by Google)
It increasingly becomes more apparent to me that children today suffer from a false sense of entitlement. Instead of actively cutting off this attitude and replacing it with a sense of thankfulness, it is reinforced by parents, grandparents, and society in general.
The point was made loud and clear over the weekend. Imagine a grandmother asking her grandchildren to name the top two gifts they want for Christmas followed by an afternoon of selfishness and chaos. Instead of feeling grateful to have a grandmother who cares enough to buy gifts or being grateful for resources to afford gifts, the Atticus was they had a right to whatever they wanted. At one point, this grandmother had three of the exact same game systems in her cart for three brothers who all lived in the same house. It would have stayed that way had one child not changed his mind about which game system and another decided on a different gift. You see, the boys did not want to share. Each wanted their own game system in their own room. One boy in particular was the one to infect this attitude on the others.
I understand that kids will be kids. I understand that a kid will want everything he sees if you allow him to have it. What I don’t understand is how it is tolerated. Even in gift giving we need to be reasonable. We need not spoil or give into selfish whims. The focus is not what is inside the wrapped box but that we have a wrapped box to open. No matter what is in the box, it represents the love someone has for us and that alone should cause us to be grateful even if it is pink bunny footed pajamas and not a Red Ryder Bee Bee Gun. Let’s take the focus on things and place it on hearts.