So Who's At Fault?

So, as a child we were poor and I never knew it.  My parents made sure that we had everything that we needed and that we didn't know that were were poor.  I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone else was just as poor as we were, so there was nobody to compare ourselves to, I guess.  My mom was a stay at home mom for most of my childhood, although I do remember her working as a waitress for a short period of time when I was like 3-4 years old.  But my dad worked 2 jobs most of the time.  I didn't find out until just a few years ago that we were on public assistance for most of my childhood, getting at least food stamps.  My parents made sure we had food on the table and clothes and toys to play with.  We even went on vacation every summer.  We had a pop-up camper and sometimes we even rented a house up at Buckeye Lake for a week.  Nope, we didn't want for anything.  We knew not to beg for things though. 

As we grew older, my brother met a friend who was rich.  That friend had everything he could want and more.  My brother began to demand things from my parents.  And when my parents couldn't give those things to him.  He began to steal.  He stole from me and my parents.  He stole credit card numbers from patrons where he worked, in order to buy things to keep up with his rich friend.  Eventually we lost touch.  Years later, I found out that he moved into the same neighborhood that I live in.  We drove by one day and he was outside and he invited us into his house.  It looked like a magazine layout.  He told us that he had interior designers do his house for him.  It looked like he couldn't really live there.   He never outgrew that need, that greed that overtook him.  I felt sad for him.

But my kids...they are always begging for things.  ALWAYS...to me they seem so greedy.  And they know my financial situation.  They know when I don't have money. They know when I have bills to pay and they still ask for things that they don't need.  And then get mad at me when I don't immediately give in...even though they know I can't.


So my question is...who's at fault?  Is it my fault?  Did I do this to them?  Did I make them this way?  Or is it society?  Have they grown up in a world so different from the world that I grew up in, in a neighborhood where everybody has everything they want, not just the things they need, so that they feel entitled to ask for everything they want?  Is it too late to change them?

But you know its not just things they don't need that they are greedy with...its food too.  My kids are just damn greedy.  If I buy cookies, the whole package is gone the same day... I bought a package of string cheese.  Gone the next day.  There are 12 in a package.  My oldest tried to justify it by saying, "That's only 3 per person, and that's not unreasonable for a day."  WHAT?!?  How is that not unreasonable?  Who eats three string cheeses in a day?  Its not a frickin' meal!  I can buy 20 yogurts for me to take for breakfast.  Gone before I get through a week!  Chips, cereal, soda...it doesn't matter what it is...there is no moderation here.  Just greed and selfishness.  I don't know how to change it.

Well I think I am done venting for now...I need a nap!