By:Curtis Morton
The way I see it, children nowadays are mighty privileged and some of them are spoil rotten.
We serve to spoil them because, we do not want them to suffer some of the hardships that we went through, in our ‘growing up’ days.
The question is though: ‘Should they really have such ease and comfort or should they be taught that ‘hard work never kill anybody?’
Real story: A former boss of mine related to me that one day he was at home doing some farming and he came to the house and asked his teen aged daughter to go to the nearby shop, just about 100 meters away and fetch him something to eat and drink. She said ‘okay, Daddy’ and proceeded to continue watching the television.
About an hour later, he came back in the house, tired and hungry and cleaned up to go and eat his meal.
His daughter was comfortably curled up in front of the TV and he asked her where were the things he had asked her to buy and she said with the sweetest smile on her face: ‘I aint gone yet. I was waiting for you to give me a lift to the shop.’
Well I newa!
Another story is told (true story) that this particular Dad and mom grew up at homes with the most basic of accommodations. After all, those of us from the ‘old school’ would know what I am talking about.
The family washed their clothes in a big bath pan and the toilet was on the exterior of the house—commonly referred to as a PIT LATRINE. When rain was falling and you had to go….you just had to go!
Well, understandably they did not want their children to go through such ‘embarrassments’ and so their home now was a modern day type three bedroomer, complete with three flush toilets.
The day came when the daughter was being given her first trip to St.Maarten, where she would stay with a relative.
On the evening of the first day of her stay, she asked to use the bathroom and her aunt, pointed to the outside.
She went out in the yard, had one look at the thing (she had never gotten close to a pit latrine before) and stated instantly that she was not going to use ‘that thing.’
Well her aunt told her in no uncertain terms that that is what she had and there were no other options.
The story goes that the girl held out for at least another day but when nature calls……nature CALLS and so she eventually had to use ‘the thing.’
Now do not get me wrong. Am not saying that we should make our children live in primitive circumstances if we can manger better. However, what I am indeed saying is that we should not allow our children to dictate to us what they want and force us to live above our means.
I heard of a child at one of our High schools who told his Mom that he was not going to school unless she bought him ‘name brand’ sneakers, like most of his friends and she literally ‘broke the bank’ in order to keep him happy.
Children must be taught that money does not grow on trees and that we must, as my grandmother sued to say, ‘SATIFY’ with what we have and what God has blessed us with.
Of course, when we can do better, we do better and always safe something for the proverbial ‘rainy day’ and always seek to help others along the way.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?