They said what??!!

Times sur ewere different when I was growing up! Kids respected adult and especially their parents! I would have never thought of rolling my eyes or smart mouthing off to my parents or panther adult and I would have especially never swore in there presence!! I would have been eating my own teeth and peeling myself off a wall!! (not that I didn't roll my eyes or talk back when they were out of ear shot) I've heard from so many kids "Why should I show you respect when you don't show it to me?". Maybe I'm just old fashioned or out of touch but it's because I'm the adult and your the kid! I've already earned it! Kids act so entitled! I know part is parents fault, me included, because we want to give our kids the world! The bad thing about that is it foesnt teach them to appreciate anything. Making sure a kid has a cell phone is not required! It should be earned! I started babysitting when I was 13 and saved my money. I worked at 16 and saved my money. My parents refused to buy us designer labels. It was sears and JCPenny's and Fisher's Big wheel and Gold Circle and KMart! We were fine with that because we didn't care about materialistic stuff kids do today! I remember how much I wanted some Jordach jeans and Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. I had to save for them but oh how I loved those jeans! What a feeling of pride I had when I wore them! Just seeing the little horses head on the button made me feel good because they were all mine! Kids now put their hand out 1 minute the drop the "F" bomb the next. They don't care who they insult and have very little regard for other peoples feelings. As long as they get what they want when they want it, they aren't happy. I know I am guilty of letting so much slide. I've always said that we teach people how to treat us. I swear this is true. Let someone walk all over you, you will always be their doormat! If you don't put up with someone's shit from the beginning then they won't try to pull shit over on you. I think a lot of the problem is we try to be our kids friends first. I know I did that when I got divorced. It was a combination of feeling guilty for the relationship not working and my own being lonely. We became pals. After a while, I realized it just wasn't working. (teach people how to treat us) It had already begun a new pattern and it's a tough 1 to change. Becoming the parent/ adult that deserves the respect again after letting it slide for so long. It's tough. The anger, confusion of roles being changed back to how they should be. It's my own fault for letting it happen. Now I deal with disrespect, yelling, foul language and I have to find a way to stop it. I wish I would have put the breaks on sooner! Maybe I should do what my parents did. Soap? Smack in the mouth? Im lived through it and I'm fine today. Of course those things don't work in today's society because it's considered abuse. Well I consider it parental abuse to put up with what kids are saying and doing these days!