Creating an Entitled Generation

I dropped into my local barber shop for a trim and found I was number three in line. For lack of anything better to read, I picked up a copy of the Watch Tower. (I suspect my barber is a Jehovah’s Witness, and that’s a lot better than several other choices people make. Better than drug dealer for sure. Not that it makes him a better barber. Just maybe a better person.)

Without really meaning to do more than give the publication a cursory look (maybe to confirm my bias about Watch Tower people), I found an article about raising children that made too much sense to simply dismiss as the product of an off-center religion.

What the author wrote focused on raising children. In brief, children who have chores around the house feel they belong in the family, have value, and have a sense of service to the family. In short, they “help.”

He further contended children who grow up without specific chores and who live from the efforts of the parents grow to feel entitled to the efforts of others, and often become very confused adults.

I don’t know. It makes sense to me, and I mourn the passing of the days when kids could pick crops like beans and berries and earn a few bucks in the process. I think we were stronger and more independent. And much, much more likeable.

Rod