Christian Parenting: Three Things Parents Do That Ensures Irresponsible Entitled Adult Children

Are you looking for Christian parenting help on how to raise responsible children? There is an epidemic of irresponsible adult children that need help from their parents well into adulthood. While there are justifiable reasons for this such as a bad economy, the high cost of living, the increase in college tuition, there are also plenty of unjustified reasons such as laziness, addictions, irresponsible decisions, and a lack of maturity. Prevention is always the best policy. With that in mind, here are three things you can do with your young children that ensure irresponsible entitled behavior in adults: Make excuses for their irresponsibility. Whether it is with homework, chores, carelessness, or immaturity, if you excuse what they have done and don't allow them to face the natural consequences of their choices, you are teaching them that they don't have to live with the outcome of their choices. Instead, you want them to face those consequences so that they will learn that there is a cause and effect in life-if you don't pay attention and do what you need to do, you will face unpleasant consequences and things won't go well with you. This is God's law of reaping and sowing (Gal. 6-8). Intervene in their battles. Of course there is a time for parents to protect their children from abuse and actual harm, but most of the time it is actually best to allow children to learn how to stand up to people who mistreat them and to make their own case against people that accuse them of things. Parents won't always be around and children need to be taught that they have the ability to make choices that can protect themselves. This keeps them from developing a passive victim mentality that can be used as an excuse to not stand up for themselves and fight for what is right (Ps. 56:11). Give them everything they want. This one should be pretty obvious. If you give children everything they want, they don't learn the value of hard work, saving, and withholding gratification. They become child brats who become adult brats who don't appreciate what they have and yet feel entitled to it. No one can succeed in life without learning how to set and work toward goals which require sacrifice, patience, and diligence. When children don't learn how to manage money, they mismanage it as adults. When children don't learn how to deny themselves pleasure, they become addicts and immature selfish adults who expect everything they want to be given to them without any effort on their own. The Apostle Paul reminded the church that if a man doesn't work, he doesn't get to eat (2 Thess. 3:10). If you don't want to raise irresponsible entitled adult children, let them face the consequences of their own choices, face their own battles, and work for what they get.