I Want It Now

I LOVED Willie Wanka and the Chocolate Factory, with all its greedy children and the kind, innocent Charlie. Man! I so wanted a golden ticket when I was a kid. I enjoyed singing all the songs. One I remember vividly was the “give-it-to-me-now-kid” with the golden goose girl who wanted to have it now! Sometimes, I feel like we live in a world of “Give it to me now”! She was so demanding and snippy that she was plunged down into the “bad egg shoot”!

Most kids under 20 have never gotten up to turn the TV channel. They have always had microwaves in their kitchen—a futuristic contraption from the Jetson’s cartoon I grew up watching. Their world has been so instant that it is harder and harder to have patience.

Younger and Younger

I’m not sure everyone feels this way, but I think kids receive things at younger and younger ages. If you asked my oldest daughter Lindsey she would surely tell you that is true of her younger sister Rachel. Don’t get her started about at what age she got her cellphone compared to when she got hers.

What Next?

I can still hear Mom spouting off the life lesson. “If we get everything we want now, what then? What do we have to look forward to later?” I remember how she would shake her head when she heard of high school kids riding in a limousine. “How in the world will they top that one?”

Patience, Patience

I don’t know about you, but there are times in which I do have a hard time waiting as well. The doctor’s office or the line at the grocery store used to be difficult for me. I now try to catch up on Facebook, read a magazine article, and take some deep breaths. Even the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz had a good point when she shared, “All in good time, my little pretty, all in good time!”

Teaching school for 27 years, I have seen a big shift in the lack of perseverance needed at times for kids to be successful. The number of “I give-uppers” continues to climb. Why? Perhaps it is because “they want it now”. Learning isn’t always on the immediate; they begin to give up, feeling defeated.

Who’s to blame for all this split-second need of fulfillment? Probably, all of us. Science, the media, the “give everyone a trophy” fans, and yep, even you and me. What? Say it’s not so! But, how often do we complain about not having something we want and need to save for the purchase? Perhaps worse, we whip out the credit card for the impulsive buy because of the sale because we “need” a new outfit for the upcoming event—never mind that I have five perfectly appropriate and pretty ones.

So, how do we model the “all in good time, my little pretty” philosophy? We slow down! Take a back road to enjoy the scenery and inform our kids (or grandkids) of the reason. We let them watch us struggle for answers and problem solve out loud. Share a milestone, no matter how big or small, that feels like a marathon to achieve. In short, quit screaming through our actions the words “I want it nnnnoooooowwwww!” like Veruca Salt did as she went sailing down the “rotten egg” chute!