What Does it Mean to SPOIL a child?

In my opinion it is not the best way to show how you love your children. Of course, it is very high risk for kids to become materialistic an egoistic. You should find a middle and to make a decision what is not much... You really wasting your money. It is not the best way to spend lots of money, nobody can value this.

Ok. I think spoiling is not about THINGS so you should be ok :) Spoiling a child, to me, is about the way a person raises your kids. If your kids get 15 presents, but are very thankful and happy, that's fine :) However if your kids get 15 presents, toss half of them aside and complain about the rest... they just might be getting spoiled. To me, spoiled means the kids have no care and/or respect for things. They don't only think they deserve lots of things, they don't think they have to earn anything. Think of Paris Hilton and how much you don't want your kids to be like that. Just be mindful of this and make sure you raise your kids to be thankful for their good fortune, and work hard in the future, and you should be fine.

I guess it depends on what the 15 presents actually are. When I was a child I used to get one "big" present and lots of little presents so I would probably get about 15 or so anyway. I did the same with my daughter and my grandaughter. I do think it's important for children to appreciate the value of things though. I mean I have friends with children and some of the stuff they got them for Christmas just stuns me! I would never have asked for presents like that when I was a child because I knew my grandparents couldn't have afforded them. The same with my daughter - she never asked for a lot of things because we were a single parent family so she knew I couldn't have afforded it either. I admit though I do spoil my grandaughter more but that's what grandparents are for lol! But generally if you can comfortably afford it without getting into debt, and if you teach your children to appreciate what they have, then I don't see a problem.

Well, if you can pay for all this stuff without going into debt you can buy as many presents as you like. I don"t know your kids, I don't know if they are spoiled. Do they appreciate all these things or is their attention span very short?. What do you do with all the stuff from the previous year. Do you ever make them give something to less fortunate people?. When my kids were young they had friends from some very wealthy families who were kind, generous and a delight to be with. These wealthy parents bought gifts for their children but in moderation 2 or three gifts each. They did however, further their children in other ways, such as nice vacations, trips to the theatre to concerts and cultural events. Then off to very expensive universities. These young people are now doing really well in their professions and life style. On the other hand my own relatives lavished their kids with gifts and assigned no responsibilities to them. They are also grown up now and very materialistic and selfish. They are repeating the pattern with their kids now. I have stopped going to their houses at Christmas because I cannot meet the kids expectations. I used to spend hours just trying to think of the perfect gift for each of them. Since I live on a fixed income I always picked good quality moderate gifts. It hurt me to see that each of the four would unwrap the gift and toss it into a corner after about two minutes because there were mountains of other gifts. So you see my dear people are different and each of us has different ideas of spoiled. Merry Christmas to all of you.

Lol. 15 presents, that is all. That is not spoiling your child. Now that also depends on what you got them and how much it costs. Now if you got them 15 way expensive things, yeah that may be spoiling them just a little bit. Now if you do like some people and get them 20 things at the dollar tree, that is not spoiling them. It just depends really.

Personally, I think it is a little much, but to each his own. I think all children deserve to be spoiled by their parents to a certain point. My children are spoiled, however they only get 3 gifts each. Christmas is and should be about more than getting gifts and my children understand that. I think the bigger issue is the message that is being sent to them, not only as children, but how it will effect them as parents when they have children of their own.

I don't see it as spoiling your child unless the following is true. If your child brags about what they have, treats others who don't have as much poorly, expects you to buy them what they want when they want it, acts like they are better than others, is extremely greedy... etc.... well if that is the case you may have a problem. Otherwise, no I don't believe that that would be considered spoiling your child. I think that as long as your child knows the value of a dollar, and appreciates everything you give him or her, well... that is just fine. I love it when I am able to buy things for my children on a whim. I don't buy everything they want, but I do love to spend money on them. It isn't spoiling, it is showing that they are well loved. As long as you aren't raising them to be materialistic I see nothing wrong with it.

It depends. Do they flaunt their toys in front of other kids? Or brag about them? Then they might be spoiled. But if they appreciate what they have but don't act like they are special because of material possessions then they aren't spoiled

I say there are two ways to spoil your children. My brother is in the part where he got away with everything, no discipline. To this do in his adult life he has no respect for authority high to him because he wasn't taught to as a small child. anyways back to my opinion of the two ways to spoil your child. one is to buy the child whatever they want. two is to let them get away with what every they want. no discipline at all. My mother just yelled at us kids, that was our discipline. except me, I got yelled at, pulled my hair. So out of the 3 of us I and my sister are the best respected to authority and others to this day in our adult life. we're the only ones who don't go to prison. like my brother is presently and this ain't the first time eighter. Its important that we don't spoil are children. I try not to spoil my son. he gets discipline when needed and I try not to yell at him. Instead I just talk to him about what he did wrong and next time this is what he should do. If only parents in this world would do that. Our world would be filled with good kids who grow up to be great adults.

well i was an only child and of course i got tons of christmas presents. i think the person that told you this should keep quiet. christmas is just one day (and i think kids should be spoiled - their lives are much harder than ours used to be!) i think if you buy them everything they see that they want all during the year, letting them get away with things, that is spoiling them. i was not spoiled, just got a lot of presents thats all. There is a HUGE difference.

Dear Cynical, We all spoil our kids to a degree but what truly tells if a child is spoiled is if they expect toys everytime you go out and come back, if they have no knowledge of how to share with their toys and the toys of their other friends, and also if they don't appreciate what you got for them and then go and say I didn't want this I specifically said I wanted this and throw the toy and leave it. If your child doesn't display this and you do this only for christmas and maybe their birthdays then I see no problem. If you can afford to do it then by all means do it.. I set a limit on what I spend on each kids each year and depending on what they want depends on how the money divides up I have been known when financially able to get the kids and excess of 10 gifts each. Do I say they are spoiled at times but not in the way of traditional spoiled. My kids share well with others play nice and would give the shirt off their back if another child needed it. I spoil them with my love because you can never love a child too much. I'm sure you will teach your children well as they get older about the value of money and how to handle it, but right now they are kids and they shouldn't have to worry about money and the all the stress that goes with .. Ignore the ignorance of people and what they say. Take care and have a happy and merry christmas.

when they get older they will want everything their way aka spoiled brat syndrome

it means to give them what they wat whenever they want it all the time

There is nothing worse than a Christmas tree that doesn't have a ton of presents on it, kids look forward to waking up and seeing with amazement and excitement a tons of presents under a tree. Makes for really great pictures too. I had this same scenario from my friend= I just told her to butt out. My kids take care of everything they get and when they are done- it goes to the thrift shop or a shelter. This happens once a year and I don't see any problem with it as long as their attitude is good towards it and they appreciate how hard you work to get them nice things. This is how THEY will get nice things when they get older through education and/or work. If their mom wasn't working they wouldn't have a place to live or christmas with any presents at all, that is a valuable lesson instead of the materialistic one. We live in America- America is materialistic. It doesn't make it right or wrong it just makes it the way it is. It is what the individual does with materialism when they get older. Well raised they will be fine and not be overly materialistic anyway. But they will work for whatever they have. I think there is more good than bad to spoiling kids on Christmas but people will always jump to the negative side. Hope you had a great one anyway. :)

I have 3 kids. My two oldest are from my husbands first marriage. I think they are spoiled because they have 3 rooms full of toys. (at moms house) Most are broken or missing parts. They don't care if it breaks because they will get a new one if they ask or should I say tell. The oldest has every gaming systems known to man along with every game he could ever play and some he shouldn't play. At 10 and 6 they have no reguard for what a dollar is. They don't understand any thing about money. I understand that my 6 year old shouldn't really know and understand money yet but she needs to get parts of it now. They don't do ANY chores yet get an allowance. They do OKAY in school but not to there potential. For Christmas we bought them 4 presents each. They didn't appreciate one of them saying not quite outloud that it wasn't enough. They hadn't even had Christmas at moms yet. And I won't even go into what she got them. (thanks to the child support) Now for our daughter who is 1. She received 6 presents. 5 of them being for her room. We are re-doing it and bought the new decor. She didn't receive a lot not just because of her age, but because we are trying to show her what Christmas is really about. To teach all of them about money. Each time they get money for there birthdays or Christmas or what ever we let them have half to spend on what ever they want the other half goes into savings. I am hoping that it helps teach them the value of a dollar. I know it will help with our youngest because she will always know that the older two just started about 3 years ago when we were married and moved to the state where they live. Another way to show they are spoiled. They money we put away for them they whine and complain about not getting to spend it. Yet they have the world in there houses. That to me is spoiled if your kids act like my older two then yes they are spoiled if they don't then they may not be yet. I'd becareful in what you buy during they year.

I must admit 15 presents is very much to receive as a child.Spoling a child means that you give the child everything he/she wants.If you for example say no and the child keeps on screaming till you buy her/him what he's screaming for it means that the child is spoiled. I don't know you so i think i'm not allowed to say or can say wether you are spoiling your child.If you give your children once in a while something it's okey but if you give children all the time that could lead to spoiling your child and they will end up being materialistic. For example one woman bought a big present for her husband.It was a lot of money but she told me that her husband only wanted big presents.That man is an example of being spoiled too much.He doesn't know the value of money.His wife did knew the value. It often happens to rich people like the programm sweet sixteen when teenagers get a car but are not satisfied with the car .Now that is what i call spoiled. Well if you do the above things than your children get spoiled too much ,but i don;t think you do that. But you can try to compare what people give for gifts to their children. We give 3 presents to every family member (8 persons).

Hi,there! Well,it's a little surprised to hear that you give each kid 15 gifts for Christmas.That's really many gifts! I think they'll be very happy about that. Frankly speaking,though you give many gifts to them,I don't think that could be descried as spoiling.For sending gifts,everybody has different understandings and willingnesses.You could do whatever you like as long as it's within your ability.I think spoiling a child means you give them too much and it's beyond the normal concept.It means you love the kids and because of that you tolerate them to do not very good or proper things even make big mistakes.You just don't correct them and they keep on going in the wrong way.Thanks for the discussion and best regards for you and your kids^_^ Merry Christmas and have fun^_^

In my opinion, a child is spoiled when he or she expects, demands, and doesn't appreciate. If you are getting more gifts because you know they won't be satisfied with less, they may be a bit spoiled. But if you are getting a lot because you can afford it and you love to see the joy and appreciation on their faces when they open them, then there is no problem. I think the child's attitude, which you help to establish, makes the difference here.

I think pampering them with things isn't necessarily spoiling them. If your kids have been good all year round, and you think they deserve those 15 gifts then it's alright. My parents tried to give everything we wanted when we were kids but I don't think I turned out as a materialistic person as an adult. I think when a kid does something wrong and gets away is being spoiled. If he gets everything he asks for on that immediate demand and no longer listens to his/her parents explanations, he/she is definitely spoiled.

if your children dont act like you owe them this stuff and are thankful for it and dont take it for granted ( i lost it but its ok mom will get me another one) then u r fine the way i see it is u r only a kid once and that is the best time of ur life i try to make kids lives as enjoyable as possible we got our 9 yr old a cell for christmas he as to do chores to help pay the bill and he got a dirt bike he has to earn the money for gas and stuff its fine to get ur kids nice stuff as long as they are responsible about it