Frankly, I don't get it either.  Good heavens, they grew up with so many advantages.  

Both parents worked to keep their fortunate offspring in name brand strollers, Legos, Gameboys and $100 sneakers.  Why in the world do these kids think they are entitled to the best of EVERYTHING the minute it is advertised and expect to live in McMansions?  I don't understand.  

They had the benefit of daycare since infancy, early preschool, and elementary afterschool programs until 6:00 each evening, plus all those swell summer & winter breaks with the babysitter (or park/school programs).   Why don't they want to spend time with their families?  I don't understand.  

MMMMM….  Scrumptious drive-through fast food for dinner.  Why are so many overweight and impatient?   I don't understand.

They were enrolled in every possible organized sport complete with adult coaches and referees.  Why are they not resourceful about entertaining themselves inexpensively - and why do they look to the courts as a means to sort out every problem they come across?  I don't understand.  

Lucky kids - we are providing them with such interesting puzzles to solve: the ticking time bomb of global warming, toxic pollution, Middle East conflicts that we have managed to spill worldwide, domestic US gang warfare that claims innocents whose fates are sealed by the neighborhoods they live in (or happen to be passing through).  

Even better, we’re bequeathing all this with the added challenge of being loathed by most of the rest of the world as overfed, undereducated, wasteful, ignorant, warmongering, spoiled brats.  

What the heck would they have to whine about?  We’ve given them everything…  

Saving....paying yourself each and every week until it hurts....grabbing another humble job on top of the regular one....persevering....asking yourself the hard quesions and making yourself discover the best solutions are all helping out a few people today, but just a few.  

Pinocchio wanted the sugar cube first to which he promised The Good Fairy his full obedience by taking the bitter medecine afterward.  Pinocchio lied, of course, and he paid for it with an ever growing nose that would not shrink despite his attempts to cut it off or solicit the help of woodpeckers to trim it down.  We have scuttled ourselves by demanding reward before honest efforts, or justifying payment simply because we exist on earth (entitlement) and violated the immutable laws of economics which musrt be satisfied in the end game.

This is one man who does not see a very rosy future when all of this settles down and the nation is reborn.  The current generation has a lot of talent and many who whine, but the latter is an end product of their parentage to some degree.  

I have a fine job, but also hold a second job of a very humble nature out of choice which might develop into a necessity the way economics have been unfolding.  I still pick up a cent on the ground.  I once received ten cents a week allowance plus the bottles I could redeem for another cent, the scrap metal I could sell from open salvage yards and the "cent on the ground' that I occasionally saw back then in my boyhood.  

You see, I might need thart cent one day for all I know.

I'm a twenty-year-old college student, and I must agree that most of my peers are spoiled rotten. My father had an above average income, but I was never allowed to touch it--my parents had worked for it and they were going to use it as they pleased. So after I reached legal working age, if the best I could afford for myself was Salvation Army clothes, that's what I got. I'm going to coupon clip my way to an independent life like they did thirty years ago.

The late teens/early twenty-somethings around me, however, seem to have a magical well of wealth buried somewhere on campus. Massive wardrobes. Phones with internet access and hundred-song-long music playlists. Visits to the hairstylist or tanning salon twice a week, vacations in Florida on spring break. And they whine that there's never enough paper towels in the restrooms, the elevators are too slow, the school doesn't have enough printers...they bemoan that the university hasn't given them every comfort they 'need'.

Some things I will whine about. Rent and tuition are going up, textbook costs are outrageous, and they're finding new fees to tack on every semester. But if they saved money by paying the darned football coach less than $200k a year and providing less than ten different entrees per meal in the cafeterias, or let the students wear a coat once in a while instead of cranking the heat up in winter, they'd drown in complaints and threats of withdrawal. We want more more more, but refuse to accept less in other areas.

My inlaws (babyboomers) raised a whinner as descibed.  I'm trying my hardest not to make the same mistake!

Thank God people are seeing what I have been saying for years. Of course we are whiners, we are a its not my fault someboby made me do this society. the problem with this era is that most kids did not get their tail kicked in at the school yard, a right of passage when you are growing up in the city. There are no real men left in this country and the country is going down the toilet. I am 45 years old and was taught to do without and to give to the less fortunate, a value I demand my kids to follow and explain to them that no matter how bad you think you have it (which they dont) many people have it worse, so I tell them to snap out of it and stop your b----ing.

It's not only today's kids.  It's also the people that went before them.  Yes, the adults that make up this society.  After all, we're expecting the kids to bail us out of the mess we created.  I'm coming across adults that try to shuffle responsibility to someone else.  And there's always the Fed Gov't.  

Perhaps if the Feds stopped ENABLING its citizens, then the citizens will start taking care of their own selves.  But by giving them less than adequate education, not educating them on simple survival skills and financial skills... the soceity is crippled.  If you think about it, only the ones that go out there an educate themselves know what to do about the kids.  They know what to do to survive.  THey know what to do to protect their assets.  The problem is... there are so much more of those who are uneducated, refuses to take responsibility for themselves, and blame others instead.  And then there are the lazy ones... the ones that don't want to learn.  

I think that Millenium Generation will be okay.  The schools are listening up.  They still haven't gotten rid of underperforming teachers, and they still go by the hiearchy, but they're implementing programs that teach students how to manage a checkbook, how to go out and get a job, how to go to an interview...And they are NOT electives anymore.  THey've become mandatory.  These are things that long ago used to be taught by parents, but since we're seeing more working parents out there (a good number happens to be a single parent...) well, these things get pushed to the wayside.  We shouldn't lose hope for Gen Millenium... But perhaps we ought to think about how we treat them from now on.  Should we still cover up for their mistakes?  Should we repeal all those child abuse tenets that say it's not okay to spank a child?  (Because personally, I think it started there!)  I don't know.  But we can't just lay blame on the parents.  We ought to lay blame on the whole of society.  We've become too complacent.  

Wow. I cannot believe this post exists. This is exactly what I have been thinking about lately. I live in Manhattan and let me tell you, never in my life have I witnessed what I have in the last 2 or 3 years. Fyi. I am almost 32. These kids btw 16-24 are absolutely aweful. I mean they quite frankly are the worst people walking the planet. The girls mainly. Oh man you parents and dads have no idea what you are doing. I mean the way my father raised my sisters and I compared to what I see walk around is appalling. First, neither my sisters or I were "shipped" off to nice colleges. We worked for our education and it has taken a while. Second, we all had jobs at 16. You parents out there should be ashamed of yourselves. You have no idea how your children act and talk to people. How they are above everyone, when quite frankly, none of them can handle a simple business transaction, such as rent an apt on their own. All they know how to do is open their wallet and take out the credit card. All these kids are shipped off to nice colleges for 4 or 5 years out of your hair, so they can "get their college education" and then get a nice job in banking "bull ***" I worked in finance for nearly a decade. These kids advance because of paper but nothing tangible as in experience. They have names like Parker and Todd and Fairy and what not. Whatever happened to John and Michael, etc. Lastly, these kids are so soft that you try to initate conversation with them and they freeze like a deer in headlights. Not jump in and offer something interesting to share. They are soft and they are useless. If you have a kid btw 16-24 call them up tell them to come home this weekend and go play football in the mud with them get them dirty, get them gritty, let them interact with other humans again instead of their video games and pacifing them with other treats that do nothing for the greater good. Frankly, you should kick their ass and see how they feel after a wake-up call. One person said here I think dad who does not care person " he does not like when the soccer coach yells at the kids" lol. Nothing like hearing once in while that you are a loser or you will be and get a job you bum. This is why we all need to pay tribute to George Carlin. He was spot on the money about this trend. Soft sappy no good no use kids that dont even like to play stickball in person anymore, and none no how to shake a hand. My comment may seem strong and harsh, but you know what the best thing my father ever did for me was push me down and make me work harder, I said one night I was going to get a tattoo he called me a loser. I did not get it....You know what he also did for me. Live my life. Let me learn that smoking pot is not good, but did not lecture me. You know what he said, I'll lock your girlfriend out of the house if this continues. He was hard and direct. I also want to say that I grew up in a fairly good middle -to upper middle class region.

no such thing as bad student...only bad teacher

                           - Mr. Miyagi

AMEN! I am a young man whose only 20, and I would def. agree with this post. So many of my friends and others in my generation have had everything bought for them. They grow up with the philosophy that they're parents are suppose to buy what they need, and whatever they earn (if they actually work) is meant for wants and desires. My parents taught me at a young age not to take anything for granted. I had to contribute 40% of all my earnings to the family. I'm the 3rd of 8 kids, and my parents felt that we should take some responsibility for the family expenses. This money was usually put towards the family vacation fund. When it came to purchasing a car, my parents let me drive the family minivan during highschool (because I had to drive everyone else) but when we bought a car for college. We were put on a strict payment plan to our father. I just recently had to purchase my car, and due to tough times, I had to take a loan out from the bank. My parents shoulder none of my college expenses. Their is one loan in their name because it is a lower interest rate. My father and I decide how to much to pay each month and he helps me budget for that.

What my parents did for me was the best thing for me. When people pull out their parents credit card constantly, its frustrating. The financial wisdom that our parents possess, that they were taught and used, are not being passed down to this generation until it is to late.

I don't think they are whiners, but they are ill prepared for the change in the standard of living that's headed their way.