I’ve never been a parent who has lavished their children with all of the latest toys or given them everything they’ve asked for. I can’t afford to. Maybe that’s why my philosophy of telling your children no sometimes is the one I feel all parents should have. However if I had all in the money in the world, would I still feel the same way…possibly not.

I’ve always heard the “don’t spoil your kids” routine. They will turn out to be ungrateful brats who expect the world to fall at their feet. Is this necessarily true, maybe for some kids? It probably has more to do with the kid then anything.

On the Housewives of New Jersey (great junk entertainment!) one lady has three daughters in which she seems to “spoil” on the show. They go into a store and pretty much anything they want, she lays down the cash. Apparently she has gotten a lot of flack for indulging her children this way. Is she turning them into monsters or is she just setting them up for a certain desirable lifestyle?

My kids can tend to get a little out of hand in this department as well, especially my daughter. She’s the only girl and there’s just so much damn cute girly stuff. She’s also the only grand-daughter and she’s always getting new stuff more so from family than from me or her dad.

It’s spilled over into everyday life with shops to the store where she’s asking for everything and where if she doesn’t get it she will repeatedly ask or begin to pout. Most recent episode was when her dad and I took her to a show where she wanted a $15 spinning light wand. She has a brother that would have needed one too ($30 for an hour of entertainment, I think not). So rather than enjoying the show, she repeatedly brought up the same thing over and over. She even harped on it in the car after leaving. Even my “maybe one day” didn’t work. A few days later, I find something similar in Target and wala she will get her wish afterall, even if at a much lower price.