Avoiding the Entitlement Trap: BYU Women's Conference

"Entitlement is a big part of our world and it's getting bigger."

I really enjoyed the class on entitlement and hope to use the information I got in my house with my kids.  And probably with my husband too.  :)

These are my favorite parts of the class (basically, they're my notes):

If we could rely on the atonement as much as we rely on our phones and computers and ipads, think about how our lives would change. But how do we overcome entitlement.  When someone is offering free lunch, don't we just go for it without thought?  (I DO.)  But if we continually check our perspective, we'll see when we're being selfish.  (although getting free lunch when it's appropriate is totally cool.)

Sometimes we get so close to the situations we're facing that we can't see the whole picture.  We just need to step back and see the entire eternal perspective to see what's most important.  That way we don't get caught up being overwhelmed or too focused on something.  Even when it's something that seems important or right, getting a full perspective will help us sort worldly things from eternal consequences.

Work, Gratitude, and Service will help us stay away from the trap of entitlement.  Work brings self-confidence, purpose and  fulfillment.  So often we are too focused on the future that we never look at the present.  But being content in what we have RIGHT NOW will help us feel gratitude.  As we serve we'll feel REAL joy, not the counterfeit happiness that worldly possessions gives us.

This generation is the age of "why not"?  If we want to communicate by only using our thumbs, why not?  But we have the responsibility to keep from becoming greedy.  We aren't entitled to do things and have things just because we can.  We need to choose what is necessary, and not what is based solely on need.

All that we have now has come from God.  Without His help, we would have nothing.  But we have been given stewardship over our bodies, lives, and homes.  We just need to make sure that we're good stewards.

Satan wishes to reign over us with greed and enmity.  He wants us to diminish others to build ourselves up.  God wishes we could help lift others with our talents and acts of kindness.  It is the opposite of entitlement and greed.

Children can benefit from expressing gratitude even when they receive things or service from daily life, things that are expected.  Just expressing gratitude daily will help gratitude grow.  It might eventually help keep the "gimmes" away.  They should also learn early to help in the home.  To be responsible at home with chores or services.

We must teach our children that winning isn't of ultimate importance and that it's ok to not be the best at anything.  They may feel entitled to being the best, and if they can't be the best then it's not worth it.  (This is a particularly hard thing at our house - we must work at this....a lot.)

My goal: start with myself, then teach my kids to feel less entitled....right after I get some kind of amazing prize and award check, because I DESERVE that.  JUST KIDDING.