Whining Kids Getting a Pool is What’s Wrong with Parenting
I have thought about writing this post for a long time. By now, the commercial has been on for months. I don’t watch a lot of “regular” TV, so I haven’t seen it that often, but the first time I saw it, it grated at me, and the more I have seen it in recent weeks, it has only made me angrier.
It is the Northwestern Mutual commercial with the whiney girl who ends up getting a pool for her horrible attitude. If you can stomach it, here is the full commercial:
How is it that this is supposed to be representative of good parenting? How is it possible that it is a good idea to reward this whiny girl with a swimming pool for being nothing more than a whiny little girl?
Here’s what is more sad, though: too many parents can see themselves in this commercial.
Parenting is hard! I’ve heard my kids be whiny just like the girl in the commercial (way more often than I would like to think about). I have had those inner struggles where I question how much we should give our kids verses how much we should let them do “without.”
And, yes, there are times when I have caved and their little whiny attitudes have worn me down. I readily admit that.
But when that has happened, I have been wrong. Allowing my kids to win by having a bad and disrespectful attitude is wrong. It is not teaching them respect. It is not teaching them patience. It is not teaching them honor.
If that commercial were going to represent good parenting, when that girl whined to her daddy, her body would have been the one pushing that lawnmower for the rest of the day…after which she could do the dishes for her mother.
Parents, I’m in this fight with you, and I’m cheering you on. Let’s not allow our children to run our households. Let’s not allow them to think they have the upper hand.
Let’s actually be parents!
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother…that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:1-3)
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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn
