“The price of greatness is responsibility.”- Winston Churchill
Have you noticed that many of the great men and women throughout history came from humble beginnings? They developed an obsession to rise about their circumstances, and improve their lot in life.
Each generation strives to give their children a better way of life than the one they grew up in.
Does making it easier for your children help them to take responsibility? Probably not!
Consider this scenario. A young man’s father is a successful neurosurgeon. His work does not allow him to spend a lot of time with his son. To compensate for being absent the man showers the boy with expensive cars, trips to beautiful destinations, and bank accounts filled with money. At first glance the youth looks like he has the best of everything. Take a closer look. Does he really have it all? Not in the least. The young man would sell everything he owns to spend more time with his dad. Happiness does not come from having more things.
“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.”-Robert A. Heinlein
Do you buy your children expensive smartphones, computers, tablets or mobile devices whenever they ask for them? Or, do you negotiate with your kids that they pay half of whatever item they want? How do you deal with their sense of entitlement? Are they expected to have jobs, and save their money?
“It’s not what you do for your children, but what you taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.” -Ann Landers
What does responsibility mean to you? Maybe, you had to work two jobs while going to school? You don’t want this hardship to be experienced by your kids. Let me ask you this. What is the silver lining that came out of working two jobs while going to school? Are you great at organizing? Are you amazing at budgeting? Can you stretch food by cooking healthy dishes on a shoe-string budget? Why wouldn’t you give your children the same opportunity to learn from obstacles? Give this some serious thought.
“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” -Denis Waitley
So before you make life too easy for your kids try to see the end goal. Stop giving them everything. Have them work for what they want. Be a role model that they look up to. Don’t worry if they fall down a few times and fail. This is part of life. They will always learn more from their mistakes than from their success. Do not take this opportunity away from them.
“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” -Les Brown
Teach them that part of being successful is taking responsibility for helping others.
“My role model was my grandfather. He instilled in me the feeling that no matter how successful you are, you have a responsibility to help others.” -Kevin Johnson
Pat yourself on the back because you are doing an amazing job!
Thank you jake-oates-592991-unsplash for the photo!