Dealing with entitlement starts at a much younger age and mom has to be on board. My ex had an extreme sense of entitlement that came out later in our marriage. The kids were becoming like her as well. Rules didn't mean anything when mom doesn't enforce while dad is gone at work. I ended up divorcing her for this and several other reasons but mainly I was afraid of how my kids would turn out. I was not popular but when it came to the kids, I made sure they understood that they were not entitled to anything other than food and shelter. Mom always told them dad would pay for everything. Wrong. They all had around $4000 in an account from their grandparents which was opened when each was born. They wanted to use it to buy a car. Fine, but you MUST have a job to pay for gas, insurance, repairs. I got all kinds of grief over that. It would take hours to relate all of the stories and drama but long story short, I now have three very responsible young adult children, a third grade teacher, a social worker for Child Protective Services, and a Marine.
My oldest, the teacher, who was once by far the most entitled, said to me in college(which she was paying for through, grants, scholarships and work)(I was still paying child support on her, another long story, can't pay for both), "You know dad, I'm becoming a lot like you." She called me two days ago to tell me how good it felt to have an excellent credit score/report. Her mother has declared bankruptcy and 11 years after divorcing her, I still get calls about every other month from creditors trying to find her. Not my problem anymore
I had dinner last night with my two girls and their husbands, both fine, responsible men. Oh, and their weddings had a budget, and anything above that amount was on them. You would be amazed at how nice of a wedding you can have when you combine a budget with hard work and creativity!
To cure a sense of entitlement means that you are going to have to make some very unpopular decisions, and then stick to them no matter how much others pressure you. You will have to battle yourself to not give in. Giving in is easy, sticking it out is very difficult. But the rewards are worth it! Good luck
