I can only speak for my family, my kids have lived a very nice, easy life but never have I felt it was not appreciated to the highest level. I actually have told me adult kids (26-35 years old) they do not need to thank Mom and Dad for literally everything we still do for them. Two of my boys are my main golf buddies and they have never paid for a round when playing with me yet have never taken it for granted and thank me every single time. I lived a very nice life and believed paying it forward was how I wanted to live my life.
Over the past 25 years I have had a roller coaster of a life financially, but my kids left college debt free and have made great decisions since graduating. To be honest, seeing their Dad eat a little dirt was the best education they may have received. They saw their parents' sacrifice a ton to provide an education and life in general. Hopefully they have learned the lesson of paying it forward.
Ditto.
My children were orphans. The first years of their lives were spent in squalor few Americans have ever seen. So, if I spoil them, so be it. I don't expect them to thank me. I expect them to pay it forward, as you do, and to never forget from where they came. I occasionally remind them they were chosen for something -- only God knows what that is -- and they should be open to that calling, whatever it is and whenever it surfaces.
My parents were like us and like Goose -- they made sure we had a Marquette education (four of the six of us had one). All Dad and Mom wanted was to make sure someone down the line had the same opportunities we did. Our children have and we've responded to more calls than I can count to give to education.
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