I am only twenty-five years old, yet far too often I feel as if I belong in the generation ahead of me. I look at the values and priorities that kids have today and it upsets me. When a child or teenagers number one priority is their cell phone, Ipod, or how expensive their shoes are, there is a problem with the morals and value instilled in that child. I remember being in high school vividly, as I graduated only seven years ago. I recall my priorities being my grades, my chores, and working as much as I could to pay the car insurance for the car that I saved up to purchase. Sure, my parents did the usual back to school shopping for new clothes and shoes, but never in a million years would I have “expected” them to buy me $150 shoes just because I felt entitled to them. Nor would I have asked for a $600 cell phone just because everyone else had it. I appreciated the roof over my head, the food on the table, and the love they gave us. Christmas and birthdays were really the time we could ask for maybe a more expensive gift, something we felt we wanted but didn’t necessarily need. I never felt entitled to things as I believe many kids today feel. I believe my mom gave me the foundation of values that I uphold today. She taught me to appreciate the value of everything in life, big or small. Working in retail I am around kids and teenagers on a daily basis. It really angers me when I hear kids complaining that they need a new cell phone because theirs is not considered “cool” anymore. What upset me more is when I hear parents say that they have to wait because they just broke their second or third phone they had been given! I am sorry but my child will not even have a cell phone until they are old enough to drive. I was seventeen when I got my first cell phone and it was a pre-pay phone that my dad had put sixty minutes onto. When the sixty minutes ran out, I had to purchase more minutes myself. I learned the value of working to earn things. I do not know if it is society today versus society when I was a kid, or if people just become more materialistic as time goes on, but it is appalling that kids run around with more expensive clothing and gadgets than most adults. I understand to some degree people who say “I want my child to have what I didn’t when I was their age”, but can you really use that argument? Children need love, a foundation of values based on something other than materialistic items, they need stability. I look at myself now and I feel my values and priorities are about the same as when I was in high school. Sure I am more responsible and time management has helped me create a plan for life, but I still feel the same way as I did then. I am an adult now and if I want things I have to weigh the options. Let’s put it this way, I was doing laundry a few months back and I washed my sweatshirt I had taken a jog in earlier in the day. Little did I know until I pulled the laundry out was that I had forgotten to remove my fiancés ipod from my sweatshirt, needless to say, it was ruined. I felt terrible and I though he would yell and be angry. I told him as soon as he got home what had happened, he was anything but angry. He assured me that accidents happen and that it was just a toy. He was more upset that I was so upset about it. While it was quite a bit of money flushed down the drain (or washed away you could say), he helped me once again see that material items are just that, toys. It wasn’t something that made his day better, it wasn’t something we could not live with out, it was just a toy, something we wanted but did not need. Six months later, we still have not replaced the ipod. The moral of the story is this, I was taught growing up that there is more to life than material possessions. At twenty-five, I still believe this. I wish I could teach a class to parents and children to help instill that into them. I wish children appreciated the little things in life these days. I wish kids didn’t grow up so fast these days and have such nasty attitudes at such a young age. I am very grateful to my mom for instilling a sense of morals, values, and appreciation into me and my brothers. I am very grateful that I had to work for things. Life doesn’t come on a silver platter and I wasn’t fed with a silver spoon in my mouth. When my soon-to-be husband and I have kids, we will instill the same foundation of values into them, if you want something you have to earn it, no one is entitled to anything.