Many parents in their bid to show their love to their children end up overdoing it to the extent of missing their real intentions. In their quest to shower their children with their undying love, they tend to overdo it to the point that the children end up being pampered rather than loved. The final result of such actions is a child who behaves like a tyrannical king who has his parents at his beck and call. The resulting child will be a spoiled brat who would end up being a spoiled adult with unsavory behaviors such as selfishness, greed and, in some cases, throwing of tantrums among other despicable behaviors. Thus, it is important for parents to take appropriate measures to avoid such situations that will lead to a spoiled adult who will be an enemy to many people in society. In case appropriate measures are not taken, and the child becomes a brat, there is a need for the parent to handle the spoiled child appropriately. This will necessitate a character change at an early age before adulthood sets in which will spell doom to both parties and the society at large.
One of the reasons why many parents end up spoiling their children is the innate urge to always try and please their children by giving gifts almost every day. This behavior is so popular that the children have begun believing that they are entitled to having those gifts. Thus, failure of the parents to present the gifts will lead to the throwing of tantrums, sulking and ‘strike’. The parents in their bid to show how much they love their children have ended up pampering and inculcating a belief that these gifts are their constitutional rights of some sort. However, in order to bring a child who will earn the respect of the society at present and in the future, it is important for the parents to reverse this trend in spoiled brats by making them earn those presents. The gifts should be rewards for completing specified tasks or for good conduct. This will remove the attitude of entitlement prevalent in spoiled children and inculcate in them the spirit and attitude of hard work which will be rewarded thereby bringing a sense of pride not only to the child in question but also to the parent. Moreover, parents who are raising spoiled children should learn to be inconsistent in terms of meting out the appropriate punishment for any wrongdoing. Children who are old enough to be spoiled are also old enough to predict the punishment for their mistakes hence they prepare themselves in prior for the punishment thereby derailing the purpose and effectiveness of the punishment. They should be totally unaware of what is coming at them.
Bringing up a spoiled child is a challenge that sometimes requires big sacrifices for the good of the child’s future. Thus, parents may be forced sometimes to give away or even destroy those expensive gifts such as video games which the spoiled child is addicted to. This will help in getting the attention of the child to seriousness of the parent and the task at hand and make him reconsider his priorities in life. Most of the children and especially spoiled ones find it boring when the parents talk too much. Hence, the parents should talk less and act more. Spoiled children are always greedy hence the parents should teach them the importance of the act of giving by taking them to charity events and activities and ensuring that they participate in them.
All in all, parents of spoiled children should show tough love to their children in order to give them a better future. They should love them so much to punish them so severely and appropriately, and reward them so abundantly. In my opinion, parents should learn to distinguish between loving and giving and also pampering in order to raise spoiled children.