And this is wonderful because why?

[Jan74]

Oh they will definitely regret this. My SIL would spoil the kids buying for example 2 new outfits for my niece when she was 3 for NYE so she could "choose the one she liked best" and I'd just  at the time.

Now, she has a 14 year old that threw a fit here at my home cause she could only buy 1 pair of new expensive sneakers on our credit card (her mom will repay us, but she'll do so in many monthly installments, therefore tying up limit on it). She wanted a second pair, and it was gonna be "Only 12 a month!" (over a year...). When we explained we had no limit, she called her mom, asking her mom to send us cash. Her mom didn't have the cash, so she called her grandparents, then her father, then - what shocked me - her boyfriend asking if he had any Christmas money leftover to transfer to us so she could buy the sneakers.

That right there is your friend's future.

[araigne]

For me, it isn't about how many "toys" the kid has or how much money he got at Christmas. It is the term "make a killing". The term is too commercial and too aggressive to apply to a gift. Unfortunately, that attitude is coming from the parents and the kid probably picked it right up as well.

I agree. I've known many wealthy people who were raised to be gracious and grateful for everything they have, even the smallest homemade gift, and they raise their children that way, too. It's not about what the kid got, but his and his parents' attitude towards the gifts, which is quite unattractive.