I have an 18 year old grandchild, who simply can't be bothered to stick with a job. They've had quite a few, after having decided that attending college was also too much like hard work!! It's too much trouble to get out of bed, too hard having to do what they're told all day, the jobs are 'boring', you name it, there's an excuse.
In my opinion, we've gradually made a rod for our own backs with our children, and unfortunately, I think that my generation (I'm in my 60's) were probably the ones to start it. All parents want their kids to have a better life than they had, but I think my generation may have been the first that had enough money to actually spoil our kids to any great extent. When I was a child, my parents could only afford to buy me gifts for birthday and Christmas and there were no massive great piles of gifts even then. New clothes were bought when the old ones wore out, or we grew out of them. We literally had a set of school clothes, hand me downs from older siblings, or cousins cast offs for after school and weekends, and one nice outfit for special occasions, However, when I had my first child, I often saw a little outfit in a shop window, and would pop in and buy it, without having to think too much about whether I could actually afford it. Then, if I had any spare money at the end of the week, I would buy her a little treat, maybe a colouring book, and pencils, or a pack of cards, maybe a book, doll, etc. There is no way my parents could have afforded to do this. Now, how many of you on MN can honestly say that they don't buy their kids treats like a toy car, or a doll, a book, a puzzle, or something that they don't actually NEED, on a frequent basis? This shows kids that they can pretty much always have what they want - obviously I realise that this is a massive generalisation, but even parents who struggle to make ends meet, will do it when they can. We all tell our kids how wonderful they are, and how they can do anything in life. We frequently praise them for the smallest things, and so, when they do enter the world of work, and suddenly find that they're not being praised to the hilt for simply making a cup of tea for the boss, or sweeping up, or filing a few papers, they think they're had done by. Then there's the wages, so many of them think that they should be earning a fortune, but don't expect to have to work their way up to get it, or pay board and contribute to the household by doing any chores, because they're now working and are SO tired!!
Basically, we've raised a nation of spoilt kids, and while there are those that work hard, do well, and have a career path in mind, with things to aim for, there are some that don't know what they want to do, so think they can just sit back and do NOTHING because Mum and Dad have always supplied everything they need, and will continue to do so! Look at the thread on here over the last couple of days, about the 19 year old boy, who would sooner leave home than wash his own underwear!! Most of us are simply too soft on our kids, and then when it comes to joining the work force, they really can't handle it.