Parental welfare is like lifting weights for your children... and thinking they’ll get stronger for it.
I often catch people, friends, family and acquaintances, in heated conversations about how this country has been turned into a welfare state, with millions of beggars living off the state’s coffers. Most of them in every day life, operate substantially to the right of the political spectrum. Most of them are sufficiently educated, hard working, god fearing family men and women with high standards of morality and respect. Many of them have children in early to grown adult categories and many have no clue that their behavior and actions steal from their kids’ futures.
If you’re thinking:”I’d never take anything from my children”, let me assure you I’m not talking about “borrowing” from their piggy bank or savings account. I’m talking about robbing your kids of the tools they’ll need to live ambitious, independent lives.
And that’s what I call “parental welfare.”
Parental welfare starts with something as simple as paying for your teenager’s gasoline without the need for any counter performance. Or it could be as damaging as paying the living expenses of adult children.
Parental welfare is like lifting weights for your children… and thinking they’ll get stronger for it. That’s exactly what you do each time you “deny” them an opportunity to struggle and learn how to do and earn things on their own.
Parental welfare is a form of theft of the worst kind as it robs your children of the same life lessons that taught you how to become an income earner or wealth creator. It robs your children of the motivation to succeed. It denies them the opportunity to find the joy of work. And it eliminates the productive pain that goes hand-in-hand with learning how to be self-sustaining adults.
Showering your kids with all that they desire is destructive. It turns young children into needy tyrants… who grow up to be needy, whining adult tyrants. Instead let your children work for their needs and desires outside of the obvious tools that come with parenting. And most of all….let them fail!! Be there to offer encouragement, but …do not ‘deny’ them the heavy lifting required to create productive lives of their own. It’s the only way to prepare them…even if you’re accused of “Tough Love”.
