Someone on UnschoolingBasics who will be better off anonymous wrote:

See, I dont see myself as a controlling parent because I am teaching my kids that they cannot always have what they want. I dont feel that it is unreasonable to teach them these values. If we are out at a store and my son wants a toy and he just had a birthday or christmas or whatever the reason is, I am not going to buy him that toy just because he wants it. He will learn to be spoiled if he gets everytihng he wants. My son is a sensitive child too.. If I left him to do what he wanted, he would eat junk food and play video games all day long... I mean granted there are parents that say no to everything and are just NO kind of parents, but we dont say NO to our kids all the time, and when we do, they are taught to respect that answer. Is that a wrong way of thinking when it comes to unschooling

WE are one of THOSE parents that give everything our kids ask for. Of course if we financially can at that moment. I have a very intense ds that will be five end of June and you know what??? We have given him so many presents, big presents, just because....and ALL the time.

It has not made him "spoiled." If we cannot give him something at that moment we talk about it and discuss what we can do. He will either choose to wait till we can or to get something that we can afford that minute. And that can be a small trinket that costs 50 cents when we are broke.

This past Christmas I kept asking what he wanted. Last Christmas he got so many presents. He said he wanted to get ME a Nintendo DS so we could play together. He did not want anything for himself but for his mom.

He will not learn to be spoiled if he gets everything he wants—no one gets every little thing they want. But he will learn that his parents will try to give him everything he wants—if possible. He will learn about family budget and money and economics and most of all he will learn the joy of giving something that makes a loved one smile.

Alex (the one with spoiled kids)