Just How Damaging is it to (Occasionally) Spoil Your Child?

As a parent, you always want the best for your child. It is only natural to want better things for your children than you had. While this may be completely normal and understandable, it can sometimes reach a point where spoiling your children can cause them more harm than good.

Although it may seem to be harmless to spoil your children when they are young, there can be numerous negative consequences as they grow older. For instance, children who are spoiled when they are young and receive everything they want (without having to work for it) often do not develop patience and the skill of learning to appreciate what they have.

As a result, they may develop an ‘on demand’ personality, believing they should receive everything they want instantly. This can cause a variety of future problems, including an aggressive personality and even an inclination to steal if what they want is not affordable. In addition, because they have always been provided with everything they want, they may have no real appreciation for the object of their desires when they eventually get it, nor will they appreciate the importance of caring for it. They may also not understand the consequences of their own actions.

In an adult world, children who have been spoiled often have difficulty in the workplace because they frequently experience difficulty in getting along with others, particularly supervisors and managers who make what they see as excessive demands on them for little or no emotional or financial compensation.

Children who have been spoiled also often grow up to have difficulty in maintaining personal relationships and may experience problems in maintaining romantic relationships, as they always enter a relationship with the expectation of ‘automatically’ receiving something, whether that be love, trust, respect or even financial support from their partner.

Although there is certainly nothing wrong with desiring to give your children a better life, it is important to learn where to draw the line and ensure you are not spoiling your children; not only for the present but also for the future.