What happen to Respect?

I have written about my family many times. We are a very close group and we not only love each other, but generally speaking we also like each other. A lot of people remark about what a special bond we all share. How we are there for each other and we can also sit around a table and laugh for hours. None of us take our selves too seriously and we all share a bit of self deprecation. I truly love each and every one of them.

In reading CAROL'S blog I find myself thinking of one of my little cousins. She is 10 going on 40. She can be so loving and sweet and MANIPULATIVE! She is the only girl with three brothers and is totally DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL. She is spoiled rotten. I have gotten to the point that when she is sweet, I don't trust it. I think it is for a reason and wonder what she expects. There are stories I could tell about her for days!

Whatever she wants, she gets. If not from Daddy, then from her grandmother or her aunts. No one ever seems to say no to her. And it is not just in things, but in her actions and behaviors. When she was little, she never expressed an interest in dolls. Every doll she ever got she destroyed. Along with all the fancy clothes and shoes she wanted...and got. This year, she decided she wanted an American Girl doll. Guess what...she got it. That sucker cost almost $200. She was given it on Sunday at our Hanukkah party. At about 9:30 her parents told her that they had to go home. Her little brother still had homework and needed a bath and to get to bed. Her response was that she wanted to make matzo balls!! At 9:30! Her parents said no and so did her grandmother. That little brat marched herself in the kitchen and took out the ingredients and utensils and began cooking! Even after she was told NO. And the sicker part was that she was not reprimanded in way, shape or form. I was so mad. I had to leave before I said something that was not my business to say.

I fumed all the way home...and am still fuming! My first thought was that at the moment she walked into the kitchen that $200 doll would have been scooped up and locked in a closet until she can learn to listen and RESPECT her elders.

I don't remember how I was taught, but I just knew that if my parents said no, it meant no. I also knew that if I got something I took care of it. I also knew that I was "entitled" to nothing. I knew that whatever I did get was something my parents worked hard to get me. They did it because they believed in it...not just because I wanted it. Maybe it was just a different era. I don't know.

Am I crazy? Am I making a big deal of nothing?