Teaching Your Children Not to Be Spoiled

Christmas is over and your children are on new toy overload. If they’re anything like my children, they have what amounts to an entire Toys R Us store in their bedrooms and that’s not including what they already had before. It’s difficult not to want to go overboard for your children during the holidays, and it’s even more difficult not to tell aunts and uncles and grandparents not to do the same.

While new toys and gifts are wonderful, you don’t want those to amount to a spoiled child. If you suspect that the holidays might have spoiled your children a bit, try using some of this advice to help you “un”spoil them quickly.

Say No

It sounds easier said than done. Especially when you’re in the middle of the supermarket and your little ones are screaming for a candy bar after they’ve already devoured the cookie they received at the bakery. You don’t want them to have another piece of candy, but you also want them to hush so you can shop without making a scene. It’s now that you cave and give the kids the candy. Except you shouldn’t; say no to them. It’s not easy, but it will become easier with practice.

Delayed Gratification

This is something most of us have a problem with, even me. Once I have it in my mind that I want something, I go pick it up, even if it means rearranging my schedule, rushing or even driving an hour and a half one way because I can’t wait 24 hours for it to arrive via overnight shipping. Delayed gratification, however, is something we have to teach our kids. We don’t buy things we want before we have the funds to buy them, so why teach our children differently? Let them earn the money to buy what they want on their own – it helps teach them several valuable lessons.

Work Pays Off

We all work hard for everything we have, which is why our children should learn to do the same. That’s not saying you have to break any child labor laws, it’s just saying you have to teach them that hard work pays off. They should learn to keep their bedrooms organized and clean, their homework organized and anything they’re responsible for as they get older.

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