Is My Child Spoiled?

 

This week my daughter turned 6 and as I was going over birthday plans and presents I had to ask myself, is my child spoiled? Does my child have nice things? Yes! Do I know how to say NO to her? Most of the time, yeah I do. My daughter is an only child, as am I and my husband. We get teased a lot about “only child syndrome”, and how we were the center of our parents world, and our daughter is the same to us. Well that would be true…she is the center of our world, is something wrong with that?? 

I think there is a big difference between a child being “spoiled” and a child being a “spoiled brat”. My daughter is just as excited about a toy from the Dollar Tree, as she is with a $100 American Girl Doll (which for the record, she doesn’t have). So I know my child is not a “spoiled brat”. But I still have to wonder, is my child spoiled? I thought maybe writing it down and being able to look at it might help me answer that question.

Is it so wrong to be spoiled as a child anyways?

 

Let’s see, not only is my my child an only child, but she is also an only niece,  grandchild, and great grandchild (we have a small family). So needless to say, during the holidays my daughter does get quite a big haul of gifts. For an example, this year for her Birthday she received some small gifts (barbies, DS games, play make up, etc) and she also got tickets to see her favorite artist, Katy Perry, which were almost $500. She also will be having a day of shopping at the mall to pick out her own gifts,a visit to  a fun themed restaurant we have locally, and a day at the spa. For her last birthday she received a trip to Disney World. Does that make her spoiled? I don’t think it does. So friends have “joked” and said that it was, but are they joking? It’s hard to tell sometimes. My daughter does have a lot of toys, but she is also very giving and sweet. Every Birthday and Christmas we sit down together and go through all of her toys and pick out toys to donate to other kids. She also does daily chores and hardly ever gets upset if I tell her she can’t have things.

So maybe being spoiled is about how you act, not what you possess?

I will never argue that my child has a lot of possessions, the fact that she has a play room in addition to her regular room, both filled with toys, shows that. But I don’t think my child acts spoiled, which is more important to me than those people that just assume she is due to what she owns. We are not rich by any means, but my child does not go without, and neither do we. We cut corners where we need to, saving money where we can, and don’t live beyond out means. So I guess now when I ask myself the question” is my child spoiled?” my answer is yes. She is spoiled by people who love her, but she is NOT a spoiled brat, so I think she will be just fine <3

Do you consider your child spoiled? Let us know in the comments below!

–Rachelle

Also check out what Mrs.Madame Deals herself does to ensure her kids have a secure future:

Why we said No to Disney World