Episode 240: Affluenza: Are We Giving Our Kids Too Much?
Feeding The Mouth That Bites You: Parenting Teens Into Adulthood
Kenneth Wilgus, Cynthia Yanof
4.8 • 801 Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Dr. Ken and Cynthia dive into the topic of “affluenza” and the real pressure many parents feel to give their kids more—more opportunities, more experiences, and sometimes just… more stuff. They talk honestly about the tension between wanting to provide well and wondering if we’re accidentally creating unrealistic expectations or entitlement along the way.
From private school comparisons to lifestyle expectations and work ethic, the conversation explores how both wealth and worry about money can shape the way kids view gratitude, responsibility, and effort. Dr. Ken offers a thoughtful perspective on what actually builds resilience in kids—and why constantly shielding them from limits or discomfort is not helpful.
Listen in for a practical, realistic discussion on entitlement, motivation, and how to raise capable, grounded kids in a culture that constantly wants more.
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You can order Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here
You can order Cynthia's book "Life Is Messy, God Is Good" here
You can pre-order Cynthia's book "How'd I Miss That" here
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to Feeding the Mouth to Bight You, a weekly podcast guide on parenting teens and launching them into the world. |
| 0:15.4 | I'm Cynthia Yanov, and as always, I'm joined by psychologist and author Dr. Ken Wilgus. |
| 0:20.8 | Dr. Ken, how you doing? I'm good, Cynthia. How are you? I'm good. Mike Yanoff, my husband, he the other day called and he's like, I have to tell you something. Your podcast is so good. And I was like, oh, mesmerized. He's like, no. And he was like, I was like, sidetracked. He's like, didn't listen. And that was, like, those are Cynthia's other podcasts, everybody. I was like, okay, I was like, we're getting down to all I've got. I was like, beating the mouth. He goes, yeah, he goes, man, I really enjoyed it. He's like, y'all are so fun and he goes but you know what I like that |
| 0:54.9 | I walked away and I learned something like I felt like a better parent after hearing Dr. Ken he |
| 1:00.7 | listened to the one on dysregulation and and so he was like yeah he's like you enjoy have you |
| 1:07.3 | been doing that long I'm like only been here for about six months. But anyway, |
| 1:11.4 | I just thought that was, uh, he tuned in, he enjoyed and he was affirming what we all know that |
| 1:18.1 | you give such good help and tidbits. Like you do walk away feeling like, okay, I learned something. |
| 1:23.4 | So good work. I just hate hearing a husband dig himself into a hole and because i'm sure he used |
| 1:29.8 | that tone like like no not that one but and then and then the surprised point i i actually learned |
| 1:37.8 | okay well done sir you're you're not doing well here it was somewhere between a compliment and i was like |
| 1:44.0 | huh we might need some |
| 1:45.5 | counseling so if mike and i try to get and i know you probably don't do a lot of marriage counseling |
| 1:49.6 | we may have to start so yeah yeah so let's talk about um our kids and wealth and growing up |
| 2:00.5 | whether we're raising them with wealth, without wealth, |
| 2:03.4 | wishing we had more wealth, wishing they had more opportunity. I think we get all tied up in this |
| 2:08.4 | with our kids. And it's funny, I remember my kids, my top two went to a private school here |
| 2:16.3 | in the Dallas area. And when they were fairly young one of |
| 2:19.9 | them came home and said hey where's our ranch and um I was like I know what that school is I'm like |
| 2:27.0 | our ranch is on Preston Road that's not actually the road the school's on but like I was like |
| 2:32.9 | it's on that road and it's this brown building. Yeah. Yeah. But I did have that moment as a parent of being like, |
| 2:39.8 | oh my gosh, we don't have a ranch every and not really. Like I wasn't panicking, but that's a dumb |
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