Comfort vs. Growth

What do you think of teens these days compared with your own self, back in the day? Have you thought about it? Are you able to assess how things have changed since you were young and life was filled with books and atlases compared to tablets and smartphones?

It’s amazing how lazy children have become. True enough, the parents really wanted to give them what they didn’t have: comfort, experiences, nice food, the clothes the kids liked. While this is a very nice thing to do, they forget the most important thing: first and foremost, they ought to be parents for their children. You can’t be your child’s friend when he/she is still growing. To be able to bring up a proper human being, one must refrain from doing everything the child might want. How is that child ever going to grow if he never puts in the slightest effort into getting what he wants or needs?

Can’t really put my finger on it and I don’t want to misquote anyone, but there was a line I saw on the internet: “intelligence is the ability to adapt”. What if the environment does not require adaptation? What if you get so comfortable that you won’t be able to grow out of your ways? Won’t that mean we won’t develop too much? What a shame, don’t you think?

Parents want to be their child’s best friends, which in my opinion is not doable at a young age; maybe later in life, when your kid can actually appreciate your thinking and your character. I wonder why we forget so easily that it’s easy to get comfortable, to get lazy, to get stuck in a rut. We do it all the time for ourselves and then we are looking for personal development mentors, books or courses to take us out from our own bad habits. Why do we (as parents!) allow such things to happen to our children? We suffer from them, we struggle, yet we let out kids experience the same, instead of gently guiding them to grow as independent characters, capable of providing for themselves and for the ones they care about. More importantly, guiding them to being… better human beings.

How strange human nature is, letting such generational vicious rut continue endlessly…

Don’t give your child everything so easily so they won’t become brats. Teach them how to be kind, compassionate, caring, altruistic. Be a parent to your child so when he/she grows up, you can become his/her friend.