Our coddled, entitled children

bovertine
Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:41:00 +0000

WOW apparently a lot of people grew up thinking their life was in danger.

Anybody who has never feared at any time at least a little for their personal safety has lived a pretty sheltered life, IMO. In fact, many people choose to do things in their lives specifically because they feel those activities are a little edgy.

I think the bigger point is that it makes no sense (at least to me) to live in a frightened state because of the murder rate in Chicago, unless you happen to live in a violent area of Chicago. You can express social concern about the problem, but personal fear doesn’t seem warranted to me. I’m pretty sure that statistically most of us are far more likely to be killed in a regular old traffic accident than gunned down.



Is it coddling if your child has it “easier” than you did?

I think everybody aspires for their child to have it easier than they did. Since my parents were relatively more successful than I am, and since as has been pointed out frequently on this thread times are tough these days, I suppose my kid has it a little less cushy than I did, and may be facing greater challenges.

But I believe he’s up to those future difficulties. Of course, that remains to be seen - he’s just starting out. I’ll give him credit for what he’s done and how he winds up, but not in advance just because he may be challenged in the future.