Spoiled Kids (And How Not To Have Them)

We’ve all witnessed other people's children behaving as if they were king or queen of the hill.

Sometimes it's even our own kids who are behaving abominably at Applebee's.

But what exactly makes a kid "spoiled"? Conversely, what’s the opposite of spoiled, and how do we raise those kids?

We unpack this loaded term in this week’s episode and talk about how our own experiences have shaped our opinions.

In this episode, we discuss:

·      The history of the term “spoiled child”

·      Why spoiled children act out... and why it's usually in public

·      Boundary-seeking behavior and how to address it

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Livia Gershon for JStor Daily: The Spoiled Child is Not a Modern Invention

Jill Suttie for Greater Good Magazine: Taking on the Myth of the Spoiled Child

Patrick A. Coleman for Fatherly: Americans Fear Raising Spoiled Children and Do It Anyway

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton for Greater Good Magazine: How to Pass the Marshmallow Test

The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting by Alfie Kohn

Too Much of a Good Thing by Dan Kindlon

Positive Pushing: How to Raise a Happy and Successful Child by Dr. Jim Taylor

We also refer to our interview with kindergarten teacher and standup comedian Mr. D:

Fresh Take: Joe "Mr. D" Dombrowski on the Fresh Hells of Teaching During a Pandemic

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