Doing Whatever I Want...yeah, right?

So I am talking to a teenager the other day and she expresses the classic teenage responce, "I can't wait 'till I am grown up so I can do whatever I want!" Well, I am sure every parent has heard this and may even remember telling their parents this, but I am a little concerned because when I explain that this is not what adulthood is like, many of the next generation doesn't see it that way. I explain that even when I was single with out kids, I still didn't get to do whatever I wanted, I was limited by things; skill set, money, time...but maybe this is part of the problem, many of our children are not limited by these things. This next generation is being raised by possible the most affluent generation ever and the same limitations that we had are not on them. Now, many college students don't have jobs and it's very rare to see a student paying their own way to college. When I tell college students that I had a roommate in college that paid their own way to college by working two 40 hr week job, they look at me baffled at how they did it. They share thoughts like, "I could never do that." Yikes, this scares me. It's not that I want that to be everyones' course, but I do want young adults to feel strong and tough enough for life's journeys. I don't want hard work to scare anyone to the point of immobilization. But maybe this is what is a key difference in the two generations, one was taught they could do anything they put their mind to, and the other was taught they could do anything they want. Each parent gets to decide which one they think works for their family, their child and their world.