All the World's a Buffet

Being the baby of the family, Asher is, it is safe to say, spoiled.  We of course, for his sake, don't give him everything he asks for.  But, by and large, he lives like a king.  It's a good life.

We take him to Chinese buffet once or so a month, and there he truly is in his element.  And why not?  Everything in front of him he can get, if he wants it.  Including endless rows of dessert.  But mostly noodles and sesame chicken and orange slices.

In a sense, all the world's a buffet for Asher at this point in his life.  Obviously, it is bad to spoil a kid to the point that they become entitled and bratty and impossible.  But I recall a point by Malcolm Gladwell (I forget which of his books) in which successful kids that came from affluent families distinguished themselves by exercising a positive form of entitlement, which is that they expected to access resources and to do things, and that assurance powered them to productive lives.

It is why we should work so hard for families who lack resources and for a society that leaves no one behind, is that kids ought to be able to function this way, to expect that they can get everything they need to be happy and to thrive.  It's what we want for Asher, and when we take him to buffet we see one small manifestation of the good of that.