Entitlement

Calling "shotgun". I'm not sure which household this originated in. It is probably centuries old....or at least as old as the shotgun. In my household it is alive and well. Without fail if more than one child is to accompany me, the chaos of "I call shotgun" begins. Trying to keep order I came up with the system "oldest child gets shotgun". This of course becomes problematic with twins and birth order. Everyone seems to feel they are entitled to the front seat position.

The concept of entitlement, "I am special and can do what I want" became very visual on a recent shopping trip. We were not the brave souls who woke up at dawn to stand in line for bargains the day after Thanksgiving - but we were brave enough to venture out after breakfast. As we entered Kohl's I was shocked to see someone wheeling in a Toys R' Us shopping cart passed me and charge into the store. More than once we had to pin ourselves against a display so a rogue shopping cart could maneuver past. For some reason these people decided the the Kohl's shopping carts weren't good enough them (even though they are made to FIT in the aisles), no they had to have a Target or Toys R' Us shopping cart. They needed big. They were entitled to big, no matter how crowded and uncomfortable it made shopping for everyone else.

Perhaps these people always got to ride shotgun - hard to say. Wouldn't it be nice if the only thing people felt entitled to was humility and a gracious and giving spirit. That is a dream. For my part, I will try to be less entitled, more gracious, and train at least four children (no matter how exhausting) that riding shotgun isn't always the best.