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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>This Rings So True Of Many Daycare Parents!
Meeko 05:24 AM 09-19-2013
Generation Y are the entitled, self-centered daycare parents of today. Not all of them......but a good deal of them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-b...b_3930620.html
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MyAngels 05:33 AM 09-19-2013
Excellent article . Thank goodness I can say I didn't raise any GYPSYs
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Familycare71 06:12 AM 09-19-2013
This is so good! Unfortunately it describes my oldest child's state of mind . I didn't raise him that way but apparently he got the message some how- he is a senior this year- I have a feeling the real world will be a hard lesson... All I can do is him while he figures it out I suppose! .
I call it the American idol gen- they all think they have amazing talent!
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BumbleBee 06:14 AM 09-19-2013
Hit the nail on the head. I'm part of Gen Y and I am sooooooo glad my parents didn't raise a GYPSY! I grew up w/too many people who were GYPSYS and the author got it exactly right.
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Blackcat31 06:20 AM 09-19-2013
Wow! That was a great article AND one of the funniest (yet sadly true) things I have read in a long time!

LOVE the little stick figures!!

I also did NOT raise a GYPSY nor am I one.
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Lil'DinoEggs 06:28 AM 09-19-2013
I wanted to say this isn't true....but it is. As GYPSY, I had specifically remember these words being told to me. I wanted to be a teacher, but no that was settling when I could be an engineer and make hundreds of thousands of dollars. So now, ten years later, I have a degree I am not currently using, which cost me um.....sixty grand.....twenty of it i am still paying off. The kicker is that my parents are hard working Americans. I got my work ethic from them, yet they made the same generational mistakes raising kids apparently. Oh and my poor parents (literally poor) owe about $150,000 in school payments (this doesn't include mine) because one sibling went to a private school to be a photographer (which he isn't) and the other to be a director (which he makes no money). I am only praying what is to come to my children's generation.
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daycarediva 06:42 AM 09-19-2013
How accurate!!!!

When I was in high school a parent had a counselor FIRED for telling a high school senior (who was scraping by and barely applying himself) that he should attend community college before transferring to a four year school.

SERIOUSLY. That kid was REJECTED from EVERY 4 year college he applied, FLUNKED OUT of community college, and lives at home with his parents. He is mid-30's and delivers pizza.

I just saw a news article (yahoo, I believe) about how parents are being brought to interviews with their adult children, calling prospective employers, that sort of thing.

My children are praised/encouraged differently than their peers. They are told "You must have worked SO HARD!" instead of "You are sooo smart!" when they bring home great grades. My 14yo especially KNOWS that life will NOT be sunshine and roses and has VERY realistic expectations of the amount of work that WILL be involved with her career choice. I WILL raise a generation of respectful, responsible adults!
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SilverSabre25 06:59 AM 09-19-2013
Originally Posted by daycarediva:

My children are praised/encouraged differently than their peers. They are told "You must have worked SO HARD!" instead of "You are sooo smart!" when they bring home great grades. My 14yo especially KNOWS that life will NOT be sunshine and roses and has VERY realistic expectations of the amount of work that WILL be involved with her career choice. I WILL raise a generation of respectful, responsible adults!
That's what I do too, mostly. I emphasize the hard work and don't pull punches when explaining that sometimes life sucks. But I make sure to point out that eventually it gets better...after working really hard for awhile. And I recognize the kind, the generous, the selfless acts and acknowledge them.

But, I do also tell my kids that they are smart. That they are beautiful. That they are sweet, kind, loving, generous, bright, intelligent, mine. because I never heard those things. My DH was the FIRST person I can remember who ever EVER told me I was beautiful. and a brother-in-law was the first person who ever told me, at age 16 and with almost perfect grades my whole life, that I was smart. and you know what? Not hearing that stuff seriously screwed me up, esteem- and image-wise. Because I was just unaware of it.

So I balance it with my kids. They hear both sides. They hear a balance.
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daycarediva 07:15 AM 09-19-2013
Originally Posted by SilverSabre25:
That's what I do too, mostly. I emphasize the hard work and don't pull punches when explaining that sometimes life sucks. But I make sure to point out that eventually it gets better...after working really hard for awhile. And I recognize the kind, the generous, the selfless acts and acknowledge them.

But, I do also tell my kids that they are smart. That they are beautiful. That they are sweet, kind, loving, generous, bright, intelligent, mine. because I never heard those things. My DH was the FIRST person I can remember who ever EVER told me I was beautiful. and a brother-in-law was the first person who ever told me, at age 16 and with almost perfect grades my whole life, that I was smart. and you know what? Not hearing that stuff seriously screwed me up, esteem- and image-wise. Because I was just unaware of it.

So I balance it with my kids. They hear both sides. They hear a balance.
Yes, mine do too. I also didn't hear it growing up. That kind of life prepared me for the hard knocks I would have to face later, but it crushed my self esteem.

They do NOT hear it like I hear some of my daycare parents, in the context of them being better or the best, kwim? It is a very fine line to give them self esteem but not so much that they feel superior. While they are my kids, and they are superior to ME, the rest of the world doesn't view them that way. I just hope I don't mess them up too much.
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preschoolteacher 10:33 AM 09-19-2013
Oh, I am so totally a GYPSY.

I am much better now than I was when I graduated college. But I definitely was raised on the positive self-esteem, you-are-unique, you can be whatever you want to be Kool-Aid. It is very unlikely that my husband and I will be able to provide our kids with the same level of wealth that we received from our parents growing up. I think this is a very positive thing. I spent many years being very spoiled.

Now that I have a son, I think that I have really stopped thinking about myself so much. I think very much about him, my husband, and how to create a happier family. I chose to go into daycare in order to stay home with my son. As a result, we can't afford the expensive things we once had. I think consumerism is a huge part of being a GYPSY... you know, because we're such special snowflakes, we deserve that new iPhone, new pair of shoes, etc. and so on.

Ugh!
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Laurel 10:49 AM 09-19-2013
Originally Posted by preschoolteacher:
Oh, I am so totally a GYPSY.

I am much better now than I was when I graduated college. But I definitely was raised on the positive self-esteem, you-are-unique, you can be whatever you want to be Kool-Aid. It is very unlikely that my husband and I will be able to provide our kids with the same level of wealth that we received from our parents growing up. I think this is a very positive thing. I spent many years being very spoiled.

Now that I have a son, I think that I have really stopped thinking about myself so much. I think very much about him, my husband, and how to create a happier family. I chose to go into daycare in order to stay home with my son. As a result, we can't afford the expensive things we once had. I think consumerism is a huge part of being a GYPSY... you know, because we're such special snowflakes, we deserve that new iPhone, new pair of shoes, etc. and so on.

Ugh!
I had a comment written out but then decided not to say it. BUT, since you posted I will. Not about you but I have noticed some providers seem to be GYPSY's as well.

When I was raising my children of that age I remember all of the 'self esteem' and 'you are special' kind of thinking. I rejected it as far as they were concerned. It just didn't sit well with me. It seemed so unrealistic. I didn't want my children to be in for a rude awakening some day.

It was a good article.

Laurel
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craftymissbeth 10:52 AM 09-19-2013
Originally Posted by preschoolteacher:
Oh, I am so totally a GYPSY.

I am much better now than I was when I graduated college. But I definitely was raised on the positive self-esteem, you-are-unique, you can be whatever you want to be Kool-Aid. It is very unlikely that my husband and I will be able to provide our kids with the same level of wealth that we received from our parents growing up. I think this is a very positive thing. I spent many years being very spoiled.

Now that I have a son, I think that I have really stopped thinking about myself so much. I think very much about him, my husband, and how to create a happier family. I chose to go into daycare in order to stay home with my son. As a result, we can't afford the expensive things we once had. I think consumerism is a huge part of being a GYPSY... you know, because we're such special snowflakes, we deserve that new iPhone, new pair of shoes, etc. and so on.

Ugh!


DH is a total GYPSY and I am to an extent. I do wish for our life to be much, much simpler and have fantasized about selling all of our devices while he's at work. He wants to buy our 6 yo ds a phone!

He is perfectly comfortable taking out loans for things he doesn't need to. If he wants something, he feels he should have it at all cost.
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momofsix 11:16 AM 09-19-2013
My DD-senior in college is such a GYPSY! The sad thing about it-her sorority actually voted her "Best at everything!!!!!" We never hear the end of it
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nanglgrl 12:20 PM 09-19-2013
Originally Posted by Familycare71:
This is so good! Unfortunately it describes my oldest child's state of mind . I didn't raise him that way but apparently he got the message some how- he is a senior this year- I have a feeling the real world will be a hard lesson... All I can do is him while he figures it out I suppose! .
I call it the American idol gen- they all think they have amazing talent!
It's so true. My eldest son is part of this generation and I was doing the best I knew how. He was my first child and the only child/grandchild on my ex husbands side. He grew up being told he was special, smart and talented. He is smart but he forgets just being smart wont get you what you want. He's also talented artistically but not to a degree I think he could make a career of it. He's now an artist whatever that means and hoping to return to college next semester....this from a kid that earned a 32 on his ACT...oh we'll, I've got 3 more children to get it right. Lol
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preschoolteacher 12:24 PM 09-19-2013
I think it's good to be aware of my ex-GYPSY status so I can move on and not teach the same lessons to my own children. So no offense taken.

However, I'm really glad that I missed the helicopter parenting trend. I was a latchkey kid back when that was still acceptable. I think combining the you're-so-special phenomenon with helicopter parenting... and many people just a few years younger than me are growing up now to think they're incredible but with no self-help skills to be able to do anything on their own.

The difference is--my parents told me I was awesome and could do anything, and then they let me do it. Helicopter parents told their GYPSY kids they were awesome and could do anything, and then they did it for them.
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