Tough love?

Without a doubt we live in an age where more and more children are becoming more entitled. These kids are pampered, exalted, basically treated like miniature gods. This growing issue has affected one mother in Georgia, US, who tried to resolve the problem with her 13-year-old son who was acting "a little entitled."

Young Anthony was "acting like he's too good" to shop at Walmart, or making snarky comments about kids at school who shop at the Goodwill (a second hand shop). So thinking outside of the box the mum of Anthony decided that Anthony should wear second - hand clothes to school for a week and took him to charity shop Goodwill with $20 (£14).

Whatever the boy found is what he would have to wear. Well as you can guess he wasn't happy and shed a few tears. But his mum stuck to her guns - saying that she firmly believed in 15 years he would look back and laugh at the day his mum made him shop at Goodwill. I doubt it.

"I want to teach my kids that money isn't everything and if you have to degrade other people because of where they shop, then you too will shop there." Anthony has been wearing the already worn clothes to school since his mothers brainwave and is probably being terribly bullied.

Another forward thinking parent who has jumped on the radical bandwagon commented how she grew up on beans and rice (erm, and?) in a trailer, no heat except for the oven and never allowed TV. So due to this - this parent wanted to give her son "every opportunity." However when he started acting like everything was a need, a necessity, she enrolled him in a volunteering programme providing meals for children in poverty.

So as you can imagine parents all over the place applauded this method, stating that it is important to teach children to be thankful. But other parents have not agreed with such methods, arguing that broadcasting "punishments" on social media as not cool, parents shouldn't be shaming children in public. Other unimpressed parents responded, saying, that the charity shop mother behaved as though shopping in charity shops is a 'punishment', pointing out that they routinely buy second - hand clothes for their families. (For their families...)

Believe it or not the mother of young Anthony actually received death threats from some people, but this was balanced out by the level of support many gave her: "I didn't do this to punish him. My son learnt a valuable lesson and I believe it is just another story we can add to our memories to look back on."

Demola, TCC