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Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Mar 17, 2007 02:40 PM
Values of a "Me" Generation
Recently, I was talking to a Mom who had taught
at the Davis High School. I asked her that it must be very hard to teach high
school kids and encourage them. She told me that teaching them wasn't very hard.
However, the problem she ran into was that they were self-centered, spoiled and
expected everyone to be wealthy. She said that you can't deny that we live in
Davis and that most of the people here have more than adequate wealth. And to
add to that many of the parents are extremely well-educated. What do I mean by
that? At my daughter's school over 80% of the parents have a Master's or PhD.
(This makes me feel very under-educated with my lowly bachelor's
degree.)
I was a little shocked when I heard about this. And then I had to wonder about my own child and the type of young lady that she would grow up to be. Would she be self-centered and narcasstic like the high school kids in Davis today? I had to look at my own parenting style and what I was doing for my daughter. Of course, I try to give her almost anything within reason. She has more Barbie dolls and clothes than we can even fit in her room. Toys and books line her walls. You can barely go into her walk-in closet. She has more then enough--in fact I would say that she has too much. And if you ask her, she has no understanding that there could possibly be another kid out there who does not have the complete "My LIttle Pony" collection.
"Oh help!" I have been doing some little things to help to alleviate this problem with some limited success. We started to regularly collect Laurana's old clothes and toys for donation. I let her know that the toys and clothes are going to a little girl who has no Mom and Dad and probably has almost no clothes or toys. When I explain things to her in this way she is much more likely to let go of her treasured possessions. We then donate the items to a social worker or another charity like the Salvation Army.
Laurana and I have also started to volunteer for our local homeless shelter "Grace-in-Action ". We have started small because there are not a lot of things that a 6-year-old can do for a homeless shelter. However, we have been making muffins and cutting up fruit to drop off at Grace-in-Action. We also helped to garden at their facility two weekends ago. I was really proud of Laurana for stepping up to the plate and helping. I was also touched when she made little bouquets of flowers to leave at the homeless shelter.
However, the biggest gain was last weekend. We arrived to drop off some muffins and fruit for workers who were building a new fence for the shelter. Laurana asked Cindy Burger (the lady who runs the shelter) if there were any homeless people there. Cindy said "Yes" and that they were there to help build the fence. Laurana asked, "Where, where are the homeless people?" Inwardly I thought, "Don't tell her, don't tell her Cindy..." Cindy then lead Laurana outside and had her look at the people building the fence. "Do you see the homeless people?", she asked. "No", said Laurana. "You see", said Cindy, "We're all the same, we're all God's children..."
I started to cry and I tried not to let my daughter see my tears. I was so happy and so moved. That was just the lesson I wanted my daughter to learn. I think we still have more lessons to learn (both my daughter and I). But we're on our way and I think that by volunteering I might help to "staunch" the narcissim so prevalent in our kids today.
I was a little shocked when I heard about this. And then I had to wonder about my own child and the type of young lady that she would grow up to be. Would she be self-centered and narcasstic like the high school kids in Davis today? I had to look at my own parenting style and what I was doing for my daughter. Of course, I try to give her almost anything within reason. She has more Barbie dolls and clothes than we can even fit in her room. Toys and books line her walls. You can barely go into her walk-in closet. She has more then enough--in fact I would say that she has too much. And if you ask her, she has no understanding that there could possibly be another kid out there who does not have the complete "My LIttle Pony" collection.
"Oh help!" I have been doing some little things to help to alleviate this problem with some limited success. We started to regularly collect Laurana's old clothes and toys for donation. I let her know that the toys and clothes are going to a little girl who has no Mom and Dad and probably has almost no clothes or toys. When I explain things to her in this way she is much more likely to let go of her treasured possessions. We then donate the items to a social worker or another charity like the Salvation Army.
Laurana and I have also started to volunteer for our local homeless shelter "Grace-in-Action ". We have started small because there are not a lot of things that a 6-year-old can do for a homeless shelter. However, we have been making muffins and cutting up fruit to drop off at Grace-in-Action. We also helped to garden at their facility two weekends ago. I was really proud of Laurana for stepping up to the plate and helping. I was also touched when she made little bouquets of flowers to leave at the homeless shelter.
However, the biggest gain was last weekend. We arrived to drop off some muffins and fruit for workers who were building a new fence for the shelter. Laurana asked Cindy Burger (the lady who runs the shelter) if there were any homeless people there. Cindy said "Yes" and that they were there to help build the fence. Laurana asked, "Where, where are the homeless people?" Inwardly I thought, "Don't tell her, don't tell her Cindy..." Cindy then lead Laurana outside and had her look at the people building the fence. "Do you see the homeless people?", she asked. "No", said Laurana. "You see", said Cindy, "We're all the same, we're all God's children..."
I started to cry and I tried not to let my daughter see my tears. I was so happy and so moved. That was just the lesson I wanted my daughter to learn. I think we still have more lessons to learn (both my daughter and I). But we're on our way and I think that by volunteering I might help to "staunch" the narcissim so prevalent in our kids today.
Posted: Wed - February 28, 2007 at 06:12 PM