The Curse

The generation that is currently between 12-25 or so has a curse.  I’m going to call it the “it’s all about me curse.”  Don’t get me wrong- I know all about the “teenage myth” that has been part of the teaching in Child Development 101.  You know the one where teenagers think that when they walk into a room everyone is instantly paying attention to only them and taking in every detail?  Lately that has extended to not only everyone paying attention to the individual, but that every situation should be focused on meeting their needs. The problem is that now it is not ending when they are teenagers and it has become a curse.

I have this problem in my home.

I am constantly reminding my children that sometimes a situation focuses on another person and their wants or needs.  They should have learned that at birthday parties when they were little, but we moms have softened the blow by planning huge extravaganzas, making sure that all the guests feel special and included and then we send everyone home with a favor bag. I think it backfired.

I have a child who thinks that every hour of his “free time” should be free.  That his dad and I should make sure that there are funds to meet his wants and that he should not have to do anything that is not “fun.”  He gets cranky when the focus is on someone else because he perceives that his needs (which should be the most important) are not being met.

Jealousy is a disease that is like cancer.  It eats away at us and makes us a little more miserable every day while generally leaving those we are jealous of completely unscathed.  The only difference is that jealousy is entirely curable by the affected.  Each of us needs to remember that life is NOT all about me. . . sometimes it has nothing at all to do with me!

I certainly hope that we can all find ways to keep this curse from affecting our lives.