In addition to the boilerplate lamentations about today's well-meaning parents ruining their children, McCready includes an exhaustive manual on how to "un-entitle" our kids in every aspect of their lives. Surprisingly, she reports that results can be achieved by means other than abject cruelty.
Because you're a special snowflake, her advice has been sifted through and distilled just for you. (The crust is even cut off.)
1. Brace Yourself Against Cave-Ins
You give your baby everything they want (and more) because they're adorable. Of course, you love them more than anything and want them to stop their infernal caterwauling. But if you allow this pattern to extend beyond infancy, everyone loses.
- Modern conveniences like on-demand video, one-click online shopping, and entertainment on mobile devices make instant gratification seem like a birthright, and makes it easier for us to cave to our kids' demands than to teach them patience.
- According to McCready, kids develop their own "entitlement tools" to keep the gravy train chugging along. That includes pushing limits, selective hearing, backtalk, negotiating, and throwing tantrums.
