Instant Gratification

The other day I about lost my ever loving mind when Audrey and Ayden wanted everything they requested to be completed immediately.  I understand they are little and they have a hard time being patient, however the word patience is lacking in our household.  Everything needs to be done now!  There is no waiting or the whining and complaining begins.  That is when the realization hits me that we created the kids to become this way.  I know it wasn't intentional, but the instant gratification is a learned behavior.

Lets think about this.  We live in a world where we always are seeking out an end result.  Even something simple as a text message or email, we expect that response as soon as the person reads that text or email.  But why is this?  Why is it drilled in our minds that we need to respond quickly with everything?  I truly believe that this has a lot to do with the fast pace lives we all live.  We have so many hours in a day to complete tasks A, B, and C and we need to get as much done as possible.  We expect those we are working with to respond quickly so that we can continue with our day to complete our tasks.  Yet, newsflash, the world does not revolve around everyone who wants that quick response.

I am guilty of doing things like this.  I will send a text and then constantly glance at my phone for a response.  Or even hope that they haven't taken off the notification of when they read their message. Yeah, that was a great feature Apple, to make folks freak out why people have read their message, but not respond.  Although I shouldn't be blaming anyone but myself on this because it is my fault for even becoming so self absorbed in this. Honestly people are busy and they may see the message, but they are just busy doing other things and those things need more attention than that message and that is okay.

The interesting thing here is that I get annoyed when my kids want things to be immediate, but I am exactly the same way with other things.  Therefore, instead of getting frustrated with my children, I probably should take the time to explain to them why we should take the time to wait for things.  Maybe it is cliche, but teaching them that good things happen to those who wait could be a great teaching tool at this point.  However if I am going to model things for my kids on being patient and not needing the instant gratification, then I better practice what I preach.