Deserving Children

I heard an ad on the radio a few minutes ago where a woman spoke excitedly about getting her children the new computer they deserve.
This made me cranky.
Just the perky voice made me pretty sure I was supposed to picture a couple of perfect kids who would use their new computer only for the good of mankind.
Yeah, right. I know too many people who teach school.
Instead I'm picturing lazy, internet addicted, selfish kids with a well-enforced sense of personal entitlement.
It's not easy to raise kids who understand they don't deserve to have "stuff" but that they need to earn it, just like their parents have to earn it. I don't mean sending them out to a 9-5. Not until they're teenagers and need some good hard work every day to keep them out of trouble. I mean age-appropriate jobs. A two year-old can put a liner in a garbage can and set silverware on the dinner table.
It makes me sick to see kids who are close to twelve and can't make their own bed or clean up a toy room, let alone cook a simple meal like spaghetti with sauce from a jar.
I know people who felt deprived as children and have made a point of not letting their own children ever feel that way. Kids who get everything value nothing and turn into adults with issues about values and problems with entitlement and learning to work.

Here's a clue people; there is very little in this life that any of us deserve!

I do believe every one of us deserves to be able to work for what we want and keep what we earn (the current tax code is crappy, but that's a post for another day) so I teach my kids to work, to budget, to save, and to respect the property and hard work of others. My kids do not deserve a new computer but I would be thrilled if they worked and earned one.

Need an idea of how to motivate your kids to earn something? I print off a spreadsheet with 25 cent increments for an item like a CD or a DVD my kids want but don't need. For each job they accomplish (sweep a floor, empty trash, set table, etc.) I let them cross off a square. For bigger jobs they can cross off more than one square. When they have filled the sheet to the purchase price of the item we go pick it up at the store. My kids rarely bug me about buying them frivolous items and they take pretty good care of the toys and things they have.