Our coddled, entitled children

Pizzagirl
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:01:45 +0000

I wonder exactly how many people would care to admit to being handed everything on a silver platter, being cosseted like some porcelin doll or having every whim indulged like Jay Gatsby. Whether by their parents or merely as an accident of the time in which they lived.



I’ll say it - the 80’s were very, very good years. My parents came from working class backgrounds and my dad, through a lot of hard work, natural skill in sales and a lot of serendipity, wound up extremely successful in business. So by the time I was in late high school / college / early adulthood, there was a lot of money flowing around, and my dad is an extremely generous person who lives by the “enjoy it today, you could die tomorrow” philosophy.

So, yes, I had designer clothes and handbags. I remember walking into Neiman-Marcus and coming out with 10 pairs of shoes. We traveled first-class to Europe and Asia and took nice ski vacations. We ate out frequently at nice restaurants - every time my parents would come see me at Northwestern, we’d eat at Le Francais (I guess that would be the equivalent of the French Laundry today). My mother, sister and I all got nice jewelry for birthdays and special occasions that my dad designed for us and bought in Hong Kong. One year, my parents bought H and me (we were engaged at the time) matching Cartier tank watches. I drove an Audi 4000 (that was my college graduation present) and my sister drove a Porsche. My parents decorated their home exquisitely.

Was it fun? Oh hellz yeah ;-). It was great fun!
Did that mean that I was “coddled”? Coddled implies that I was somehow immune from any of the bad stuff in life, and like everyone else, I’ve had bad stuff in my life. FWIW, when I was 16, I was still told to get a part-time job (which I did), and I worked extremely hard academically because that was always important to me. I had household responsibilities and was expected to be a good, responsible, helpful person in the household.

“Entitled”? No, I was fully aware that we were very lucky, esp having grown up in a row house in a working class neighborhood. I didn’t point at things and say “daddy, I want them.” These were gifts freely given that I accepted. “Entitled” implies “owed.” No. Not at all. We were also fully aware that these things were life perks, not necessities.

So yeah, I’ll cop to having been indulged in this age period in my life. Sure. I live a nice lifestyle now, but not with the same abandon as how I lived during this time.