"Mom, can I have a PSP?"

"Mom, can I have a iPod?"

"Mom, my teacher doesn't like me, because she give me too much homework?"

Does any of this sound familiar to you? I hear this every single day. Not just from my children, but from the kids I'm exposed to every day. We have handed them so much, they can't do the simplest things; such as think for themselves. They "need" the latest technology to simply function.

The saddest example I have has to do with how our kids think in a math class. At the school I work at, students are allowed to check out calculators in order to do their math homework and tests. They can't figure out the simplest functions in Algebra without the aid of a calculator. They freak out if they don't have it. I mean, I've seen major deer-in-headlights looks when a kid can't find his calculator. I remember doing Algebra in high school and I didn't have the aid of a calculator. I had to use my head. I had to "do the Math".

Another thing that bothers me, about this generation we've created, is the total inability for them to do the simplest tasks; like clean their room or do their homework or just have a decent conversation. However, most of these little darlings could teach a Ph.d course in text-messaging. They play Halo 3 as if their very lives depended on it. But yet, they can't tell you who the vice-president of the United States is. They have no sense of respect for others because they act as if they are entitled to do exactly what they want. Momma and Daddy have made excuses for them and they get off with less than a tap on the hand.

"You're being too hard on little Johnny. He didn't mean to hang nooses in the tree outside of his high school and upset people. He was just joking around."

"Sue's just a child. She doesn't understand what is wrong with drinking a little on the weekend and crashing our car (that we pay for with our hard earned money) into an unsuspecting pedestrian. She doesn't deserve to spend all those years in jail, because she's so young. I mean what is a 15 year old going to do in prison?"

These are the children who are going to be making decision that will affect our future, not just theirs.

And what happens, when they are adults and things don't go the way they think they should go? If they can't function and make rational and intelligent decisions, other than what gun to shoot their opponents with on their XBox 360; what are they going to do?

We need to start telling them no. We need to start raising them in away that will foster logical thinking and skills to function. We need to allow them to make mistakes, yes; but, we don't need to pick them up every single time they mess up.

I tell my kids, if they want something, they have to work to get it. A "C" average is not excepted in my house, period. And if they get in trouble, not only do they have to face the punishment they get from whoever they have wronged; but they have to face the Wrath of Momma as well. That's how most of us were raised, and we need to get back to that...like immediately.

Learn more about this author, Tanilan Prescott.
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