I have questions????

A lot of us have grown up in situations and have had experience we definitely do not want our kids to have! We’ve worked hard to make sure they never know struggle, helol most of us have done enough of that for ourselves and them! We want to give them things we never had, and nothing is wrong with that but don’t let it only be the materials we missed. My question is, are we doing them a disservice by sheltering them and not truly allowing them to have life experiences to grow? I mean for a lot of us if we didn’t have those experiences we wouldn’t be the people we are today! How else will we know how to overcome any adversity if we are not faced with it? Are we spoiling our kids? Will they know how to hustle and will they truly understand and appreciate the “good life” that we have provided for them?

I can’t say that growing up we were just full on poor! But we have lived in not so nice neighborhoods but we were driven to school because our mother wanted us to be in a better environment! That allowed me to experience both worlds! I remember a time or two the lights being off or maybe the water being off, I never would have thought we were poor or that things were bad until I started getting older. My mom did a great job of hiding that!!  

Trying to explain the things you’ve been through as a kid to your own kids, is like talking to a dog they just don’t understand. Like they really are emotionless when it comes to struggle! Have we made life to easy for them, by jumping to their every need? And I get it, how can you understand something you’ve never been through? My daughter is in 10th grade but will be starting colleges classes this summer (might not be until the Fall with the way this covid 19 is affecting things) but I don’t even want her in the class yet because as smart as she is she has not really been faced with real life! How will she interact with adults? She can hardly wash the damn toilet with out asking me questions. 

I guess I just want my kids to be appreciative of what they have! By no means am I rich but my kids don’t want for nothing. I will go with out for them to have if need be, something else I learned from my mother and didn’t even know it was happening until I was older. I guess that’s why I’m so into having my kids do charity work with me, so they can see that not everyone has it like they do! And at anytime that could be us in need of help! Honestly I think them seeing that helps more than me just talking about it. 

Are we taking the hustle and drive away from our kids by giving them everything they want? I can admit I was guilty of this especially with Kimara when she was the only child. I’ve tried to get in the habit (I could be more consistent) of making my kids work for the things they want. For example, Kayden bought his own PlayStation and some games by working for it. I do not want them to think things just come when you want it. It’s so crazy one time Kayden asked me for something and I told him I didn’t have it. He asked me “Can’t you just get it out the bank like you always do” WHOA sir I wish that was the case! 

Letting our kids grow through life will help them build character! We are only hurting them by guarding them from the world and handing them everything.

I started this post as a question then just began to ramble, now it really has me thinking...Please comment below your thoughts ....