[NEMDF]

My experience has been that, at the point at which the rhetoric is converted to real-life by the children/teenagers, the lessons start to become ingrained. Key to the process is very clear communication of expectations (for behaviors, not for their future careers or achievements), and pointing out with some frequency behaviors that are not acceptable in your values set. This can be done by using examples of others' poor and good behavior choices, so the messages are not "personal" to one's own children unless necessary. And hard work, whether in school, sports, part-time jobs, volunteering - or a combination thereof - is a profound teacher.

[LearsFool]

Our childhood TV characters repeatedly tell our children how special they are; our schools seem singularly directed toward building their self-esteem, or heightening their love of themselves; our politicians tell them they can be whatever they want to be; our entertainment-industrial complex reinforces the belief that any impulse of passion they have is self-justifying.

It's difficult to compete with all that. So don't.

If your child takes a swig from a bottle of bleach, there are ways to counteract the poisonous effect. But wouldn't it be better to avoid the poison instead?

But no, we want to feed our kids on bleach and then jabber on about our ingenious ideas for counteracting it. "After all," we say, "there are some benefits to TV and school and entertainment."

Yeah, and bleach whitens the teeth.

[Professional Engineer]

Ping

[Hoffer Rand]

If you want a real test of kids and gratitude, check out gift-giving. As a culture, we’ve become less grateful and less gracious. That’s part of where the whole concept of “gift receipts” comes in. I’ve spoken to countless aprents who spent tons of $$$ and time trying to find “perfect presents” for their kids for birthdays or Christmas, only to have the kid open the gift then say, “can I have the receipt for this?” Not even a “thank you.” Worse, the kids do this to other people who have given them gifts, too.

If one of my daughters had ever said something like that, they would have been picking body parts off the carpet for an hour. I taught them that even if it’s a gift you don’t necessarily want, somebody went out of their way to think of you and do something for you, and you will be grateful and gracious. Instead, we’ve got kids who think they’re entitled to their gifts, so they forget (or were never taught) to behave correctly.

It’s a big pet peeve of mine.

[Soothesayer]

It is a moral obligation to be grateful for life’s small gifts. However, I am not grateful for life itself. Who could be? That seems to be asking far too much.