Parenting (Part I)

Why is bad parenting destroying our country? Because the people they are raising are our future leaders. Most people think bad parenting only occurs when parents are not involved in their children’s lives. This is true, and when parents neglect their children it is the worst kind of parenting. Children neglected by their parents are highly unlikely to grow up and be successful, let alone be a leadership role. However, is it possible that parents can be too involved in their children’s lives? Yes, but this is better than not having parents involved in their children’s lives at all. Over parenting is when parents shelter their children from in-depth experiences hence, they never learn any communication and social skills. Most children that are over-parented require rewards and reinforcement from teachers and bosses once they leave home, because this is what they received from mom and dad. Many employers today have started to hand out little bonuses such as movie tickets and small gift cards for people doing their job. This is because the new corporate employee expects and thrives on reinforcement. It is a bit ridiculous that employees expect rewards for simply doing their job. Over-parented children are demanding and expect high salaries and lots of vacation from employers. Corporations have catered to this, and new employees obtain signing bonuses, stock options, and almost three weeks of paid time off at the start of a job.

When I started at the company, I had zero days’ vacation for one year, and then a week from the second year until the fifth year of employment. After twenty years, a person’s time bank is at its maximum yet it is only two times what a new employee receives. I did not receive a stock option or bonus until I worked at the company for twelve years. New employees were making more money with absolutely no experience. This spoiled new generation of over-parented employees often fails to put in extra hours to meet their commitments. They are not proactive and avoid extra work. Even worse, the quality of their work is poor because they take short cuts to avoid putting in longer hours.

Corporations are becoming more like the government and their social programs by providing more benefits to its new employees without expecting anything in return. Meanwhile, older loyal employees’ benefits have decreased although these people did what it took to get the job done without complaining. It was routine to work weekends or all hours of the day to get our jobs done on time. Today’s worker is spoiled, less motivated, and has little patience. Individuals routinely feel they should be promoted if they have done their job for a year. Over-parented children are generally too sensitive because they take words and actions too personally. They are emotional and cannot separate between business and personal problems and issues. They do not know how to handle or accept constructive criticism, and, in fact, have an extremely tough time conveying their point or communicating with others. These traits manifest and evolve into more unhealthy behaviors such as holding grudges. These individuals cannot resolve conflicts, and they are vindictive.

My Book: Is America Dying? (Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com)