Thought for the day

I saw this quote on one of the blogs I follow and LOVED it!!! I so many times want to give my children the world. I want them to experience everything and do everything. My husband and I have talked about this in the past about how we need to be careful what we give our children. We want them to appreciate what they have and if we give them everything when they want it they might grow up thinking things just come to them rather than having to work hard for what they get. I know my kids have a lot, but I hope that I am instilling in them what it takes to have the things that they have.

I want to continue to make them wait for things they really want and make them work for them just as we as adults do. Life isn't about instant gratification as much as I admit I would like it to be.

In our day, many children grow up with distorted values because we as parents overindulge them. Whether you are well-to-do or, like most of us, of more modest means, we as parents often attempt to provide children with almost everything they want thus taking away from them the blessing of anticipating, of longing for something they do not have. One of the most important things we can teach our children is to deny themselves. Instant gratification generally makes for weak people. How many truly great individuals do you know who never had to struggle? ~Joe J. Christensen, “Greed, Selfishness, and Overindulgence,” Ensign, May 1999, 9~