https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T3PvcpWbUIg
Why can't they be like we were? Perfect in every way. What's the matter with kids today?
- Bye Bye Birdie 1961
My father's generation went to war. Imagine having to charge To beach in Normandy. Or fighting at Iwo Jima. If not having to go to war of that magnitude makes my son or me spoiled I don't have a problem with it.
i grew up in a big brick house in Chestnut Hill, Ma. My kids grew up on the fairway of a gated country club. It didn't make any of us spoiled or entitled. I was, and my kids were raised on "you will excel in school." Anything else you want for yourself (sports) can be had with hard work and the right attitude. If you like the way you've been raised work hard and earn it for yourself.
Our youth sports organization (baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, field hockey) gives participation trophies to the rookie leagues. That's where it ends. When I played LL in the 60s if a player didn't earn an all star or team championship trophy he received a participation trophy when he was twelve. Everyone walked away from the experience with at least one trophy.
I have a cousin (now 49) who is a brilliant lawyer in one of the top law firms in the country. He was a horrible athlete. His LL participation trophy still sits on the shelf in the den of my aunt and uncle's house. He wasn't entitled. He earned a BA/MA in four years at an Ivy. He then graduated at the top of his class from a prestigious law school. He also became an Eagle Scout.
Yes, there are immature kids who act entitled. It's based on how they were raised. My father was born in 1924. He's a WWII vet. When I became an adult I started to see him as a very irresponsible, immature person despite his professional success. He never stopped being the frat boy until he died in a drunk driving accident at 68. He used to joke drinking at the country club made him a "sport." But if he drank at the VFW he would have been called a drunk. My uncle, his twin said my father was immature because he was the coddled, favorite son. His parents covered his tracks for every mistake he made growing up. The more things change the more they remain the same.