Tales of a coffee-holic: Those despicable millennials

Not all young people are awful. That being said, some of them are pretty terrible.

Who hasn’t read an article about how millennials are despicable people? (Millennials are in the generation of people born in 1980 or after, which includes myself.) According to many, they’re selfish, they’re lazy, they’re entitled little brats who will never be able to care for themselves and will depend on their parents until the day they die. In some cases this is true.

Our desire as a society to ensure that our children have it better than we ever did may have backfired. When kids always get everything they want, they don’t appreciate anything. I know plenty of people who’s parents gave them a car, a cell phone and the like just because the kid wanted it. There was no work involved in this transaction.

Of course, when kids are just handed things without having to work for them, they gain a sense of entitlement. This is the parent’s fault and no one else’s. Sure, some kids who grow up this way end up as perfectly functional adults and some don’t. I have no idea what makes the difference. I am pretty certain that forcing your child to have a part time job while in school probably won’t kill them.

When you work for something, you appreciate it more. People on food stamps are not the people I’m talking about in this case. Those giving their children new cars just for being old enough to drive are middle class or richer.

I suggest that if we’re awful, ungrateful, dysfunctional people, our parents are at least partly to blame. I understand wanting your kids to focus while in school. I know all too well that trying to make a livable income while in college is nearly impossible without working yourself close to death. I do think all parents should require their kids to have summer jobs at the very least throughout high school and college.

I do think how we’re raised has a huge impact on who we are as adults. Many parents are failing their children. I know quite a few people around my age who have no idea how to take care of themselves. In college, I taught a friend how to boil water and how to set a thermostat. This was not a stupid person, she earned straight As in all her classes. Her parents had always done everything for her because they loved her and, in doing this, they perhaps failed her. If you love your children too much to think about preparing them to leave you, they will have a difficult time becoming successful adults. Really, as parents of adolescents and teenagers, a primary job is to ready your children for the future. This should be done not just through encouragement for schoolwork and after school activities, but through teaching them life skills.

Children need to know that most of them will have to work for a living, that they aren’t always going to get everything they want. They might not get the newest model of iPhone as soon as it comes out. They might have to live in nice apartment in a bad neighborhood or in a tiny apartment in a nicer area. They might not get to go on trips as often as they’d wish and they might have to skip going out in place of paying for something boring, like health insurance.

Another unfortunate side affect that comes with entitlement is laziness. I promise you, not all of us are lazy. Personally, I think lazy people have quite a bit in common with Ethan Couch, the 16-year-old who killed four people in a drunk driving incident and was given a lenient sentence because he suffered from “affluenza.” In simple terms, this means his wealthy parents never held him accountable for his actions. For the record, I think that is a ridiculous defense and he deserved a much harsher sentence. His disregard for other humans is something I think he has in common with other millennials. I cannot abide lazy people who have no sympathy for those whom their laziness directly affects. If your lack of work causes grief for someone else, you should feel bad about it. If you don’t, you should probably reevaluate how you place yourself and your own desires above your fellow man.

Maybe it’s not the children who are awful these days, but rather some of their parents. That being said, I think many of those I’ve met in this area of Nebraska tend to do a better job at teaching their children to be functional adults than many other places in the country. Perhaps it is their rural roots, knowing that chores come before play. I do know many people in my generation who value hard work and care deeply for their fellow man. I just wish there were more of us.