You are absolutely right that the difference is now kids feel ENTITLED to this stuff! It baffles me. That story about $28 shampoo epitomizes the issue.
I remember that when we moved into our neighborhood about 5 years ago, we were introduced to some neighbors and their 15-year-old son, and I said something like, "oh, great, it's good to know that there's a teenager in the neighborhood…maybe we can hire you to water our plants and pick up the mail when we go away." This suggestion was met with complete silence and a blank stare, and when I looked back on the conversation, I felt so stupid and out of touch! I realized that this kid has no intention of ever doing a menial job like that, nor do many kids his age.
I hate to keep saying, "when I was a kid…", but WHEN I WAS A KID, I would've tripped over both my sisters trying to get a job like bringing in the mail for the neighbors or watering plants. Anything like that was great for making a few easy bucks! This kid, who now at age 20 drives a new SUV (that mom and dad probably bought for him), still probably doesn't stoop so low as to have some silly summer job, making his own money, and why would he when it's handed to him by mom and dad, plus he can get whatever else he wants on his (or perhaps their) credit cards.
When did everything become so out of whack?
….When parents in places like CarmelValley, DelMar, RSF, etc started buying their K-6 the latest cell phones because "they need it in case of emergencies" , educationers started proposing each K-6 bring in a laptop to school because "they need it to learn better" (http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/3371420/detail.html), and kids started demanding the $200 pair basketball shoes because they "needed them to be a better athlete", and kids in high school ended up driving cars nicer than the faculty because they "needed it for safety,etc"
Nothing wrong with that, except most of the "needed items" parents both there kids, and kids just assumed it would be there. Parents are pretty much guilty of this. I was at a Radio Shack in CV awhile ago. A 12 year old brat was whining about how he needed a new phone, and his mom was there picking out a phone. Not that the kid's existing phone had any problems. Heck, it had more bells and whistles than my phone.
What I don't understand is why kids these days feel like they need to be texting all the time. The only reason why I have a crackberry is because I have to carry one for work, and trust me, I dodged the electronic dog leash that my employer eventually gave me as long as I possibly could.
And the laptop thing by the CV school district. WTF?
I mean, yeah I guess if you want to teach your kids to not know how do basic math, buy the kid a calculator. I guess extending this further, why bother teaching your kids proper spelling and grammar, when they can using Microsoft Word's auto-spell-correcter an auto-grammar correcter to do it? Heck, you don't even need to run the spell/grammar checker anymore. MSWord does if for you automatically now.
BTW: my two year old figured out how to rip off the keys from my laptop, when she's playing with elmo online. I'm guilty as charged.
