Spoiled Brat Kids Teach My Kids Bad Tricks

As a parent I started wondering where my kids sometimes get their sense of entitlement. How did they become so bratty? Then I realized they were getting it from popular culture â€“ the cartoons they watch, the musicians they listen to and the tiny fashion mavens they follow like the Olson Twins.

One of the most obnoxious brats on television, although a funny one is Stewie from Family Guy. He is only one year old and has an ego the size of outerspace and a contempt for his parents that I am sure is emulated by all kinds of kids.

Another arrogant member of the spoiled brat club is Justin Beiber who acts like there is no other reality but it's own. The young man is a narcissist who cares only about his hair and apparently in real life he is pretty cocky. For his sixteenth birthday he got a Ferrari F430.

In real life one of the uppiest of spoiled brats is little Miss Suri Cruise who despite being only five years old wears little gold high heel shoes and carries a gold lame purse that cost $850.000. As spiritual as Tom Cruise is the word humble does not seem to be part of the family vocabulary.

Another young lady who spoiled rotten and has it show is Will Smith's ten year old daughter who dresses head to toe in cheetah and leopard, wears heavy Gucci and Pucci chains, and $700 boots. She dresses like a retired Miami dowager and not like a little girl.

Lourdes Leon, the daughter of Madonna, gets hours of spa pampering weekly including weekly pedicures, manicures and facials. She is also always seen in designer clothing and carrying bottles of expensive vitamin waters and mineral waters. I was wondering why my child thought she was entitled to drink three dollar bottles of vitamin rich waters rather than just having Kool-Aid like everyone else.

The there is Daddy Brad Pitt who recently let his daughters Zahara and Shiloh spend $10,000 on clothing in an hour. They each also got a $250 hair cut and a $15,0000 doll collection. His son Pax wears a $600 World Vision Jacket.

A show that is almost a cult for spoiled girls to follow is My Super Sweet 16. This show on MTV has main characters that lead innocent children to believe that the apex in life is excessive consumerism. The show is riddled is iPads, Gap clothing, Landrovers and other 'the sky's the limit' type presents.

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The Pampered Child Syndrome

Lately, I have become quite interested in this book by Dr. Maggie Mamen called The Pampered Child Syndrome which is all about that one kid that takes over your entire family's priority. In fact these kids can take over everything including family harmony, financial considerations, respect for others and even common sense. In fact the other day I was in a restaurant just because of such a brat. I was just sitting down to a wonderful meal with my friend, who was a new mother in forties when suddenly her darling new child started bawling. She looked at me, and said, 'I'm sorry. We can't have this dinner. Little Delilah June wants to go!' The other lady I was with looked at her in shock and said, 'But we just got hereâ€¦the child does not control how long we stay here for dinner.' The mother, a slightly insecure hysterical type kept talking about how we all had to do what Delilah wanted or Delilah would hate her. She had no idea that she should control the situation and seemed afraid of losing the approval of a two year old child.

This type of syndrome where innocent little kids push you around and cause havoc in everyone's lives is called Pampered Child syndrome. Don't think this can't be a problem because this same woman let her child take control of her entire social life for the next few years to the extent that she never got to date anyone and she lost all of her friends because she could never leave the kid with a babysitter. At age five little Delilah June was still nursing because even though she had sharp teeth, her mother did not have a strong enough will to tell her that it was time to stop.

If you do have this type of problem or know someone then Dr. Maggie Manen's The Pampered Child Syndrome: How to Recognize It and How to Avoid It might help. She has also written other books about boundaries, tough love about raising kids including Who's In Charge?, Laughter and Love and Limits.

It's a good thing to take away power from a little kid who has too much power. For one thing, children know it is wrong for them to have authority and power that they are ill equipped to handle. As they grow older they become control freaks and develop serious social and psychological difficulties.

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