WARNING...your child is an a$$...

It's my own fault, I take responsibility for it but I feel the need to warn others about my parenting failure.

I'm no parenting expert but I feel I must say this; however, if your kids are over 8 & you don't already follow this, you're probably screwed.

Never try to give your kids the "childhood you wish you'd had". We all wish our childhoods had been filled with freedom, parents that bought us whatever we wanted and the ability to make our own decisions.

Letting your kids live like this will destroy your life, and likely turn them into the teen (and possibly adult) that we all loathe.

If your childhood was good, make theirs just slightly miserable.

If your childhood sucked, make sure theirs sucks even more.

You will never make your child truly appreciate their life until they've suffered through a few years without.

The trick is to make them "suffer" at the right age.  Early enough that they will learn from it, but not so late that they'll be resentful.

I'd wager ages 4-7 are the optimal ages to really train your kids to be appreciative. And how do you do this? Make them suffer...through times of no new toys, no fun activities, no TV, no good food.

Why oh why didn't I learn this sooner? I'm currently trying to train a 14 y.o. about appreciating what you have, respecting yourself, your things & others and not being a complete boil on the butt of humanity.

Unfortunately, I'm too late. At this age, it's impossible to reason with them and their main goal in life is to do the opposite of whatever they're told or asked to do.

No matter how hard I try, I'm always wrong. Always the bad guy. Always a dumbass (as he pointed out today). Reminding myself that he was just a rebellious teen worked for the first year. Now, I find comfort in the thought that he's simply inherited a douchebag gene from his father and there's nothing I can do about it.

Well, short of calling his probation officer and getting him to do something...there's nothing. I can't tell you how close I've been to making that phone call the last few weeks. I'm so over this attitude and I think some time apart would do us (me) good.