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Do you think your kids are entitled? Being entitled means “believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.” Know anyone like that? Chances are they might be and you don’t even know it.

This is an issue I think about a lot given that we live in the very opulent, and often excessive city of Los Angeles. And although we are not super wealthy, I worry that my daughter could fall into the entitlement trap. But is entitlement a product of environment or entirely up to the parent’s choices?

In his new book, Entitlemania: How Not to Spoil Your Kids, and What to Do If You Have, Richard Watts gives parents practical advice on how to raise kids without entitlement. Watts has 30 years of experience as a personal advisor and legal counsel to America’s most wealthy families and has seen first hand what wealth and entitlement can do to children. He’s not afraid to tell parents to let their kids fail, so they can succeed.

In this episode we discuss:

  • Best friends? Big mistake! Why being your child’s best friend is a bad thing for them — and you
  • How wealth “super-charges” the issue of entitlement — but isn’t a necessary component
  • Breaking the ‘mini-me’ compulsion and learning to allow your child to discover who they are on their own terms
  • Giving experiences, not things, to your children
  • Pride is not transferable: cultivating the wisdom and satisfaction of true accomplishment in your children by denying them much of what they ‘want’
  • His experiences with America’s wealthiest families, and what they have taught him about the qualities that make — and break — the family unit

Entitlemania: How Not to Spoil Your Kids, and What to Do If You Have is available now online and in stores. If you’d like to WIN A COPY of the book, just leave your name in the comments below and I’ll pick a random winner on Jan. 27th.

About Richard Watts
 As personal advisor and legal counsel to the super wealthy, Richard Watts spends his workdays within the castle walls of America’s most successful families. Called on to guide his clients through some of the most intimate and difficult decisions they have to make, his primary passion is conveying the wisdom of life through his practice, lectures, and writings. He is the founder and President of Family Business Office, a legal and consulting firm in Santa Ana, California. 

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