The Entitled

Where did we go wrong, cry the parents of Rachel Canning. Our sweet little girl has grown up to be a bit of a wagon (that's Irish for bitch). Even a private investigator determined that she was spoiled, and whose fault was that? The very people now reaping what they sowed.

For Mr. and Mrs. Canning, an attempt to clamp down on their daughter's activities has resulted in her filing a lawsuit against them, seeking damages for kicking her out of the house when she turned eighteen. How dare they? She has more education to be paid for and without the family home, where is she to go for school holidays?

The Entitled Demanding the Entitlement

With her sense of entitlement severely pricked, Ms. Canning turned to the courts, where all victims go to seek restitution. She believed in her cause and the justice of her plea. She trusted in her friend's father to pay her legal bills, and can't you just imagine the story she told him, filled with wailing and gnashing of teeth, to get that kind of money out of him?

The Canning family has rules, as do most families, especially those with girls of a certain age. Like most teens, Ms. Canning did not like the restrictions placed on her, especially since she was of age and wanted more freedom over her movements. A curfew of 11 pm? That simply would not do, and as for chores, isn't that why people hire Mexican immigrants to do the work Americans don't want to do?

The New Jersey judge who heard the case sided, not with the poor downtrodden child, but with the parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Canning are not obligated to support their adult daughter, even if she firmly believes she has been cheated. Neither do the parents have to pay any sort of weekly stipend to support her when she lives away from the family home. It was her decision, rash as it may have been, to seek shelter with a friend instead of accepting the house rules

As for paying her university tuition, Ms. Canning plans to continue the suit to win at least that much, but as her father claims there is a fund set up to cover her expenses, there is actually nothing to fight over. Her college costs will be covered, no matter where she chooses to live. It's just that she has to pay her own living expenses if she doesn't live at home and toe the line.

Quite a remarkable story. It's like seeing a future edition of the Saturday Irish Times, if you've been following the exploits of Ross O'Carroll Kelly. Rachel Canning is Ross's fictional daughter Honor all grown up. Which would suggest that you read him now, and see how one child could be shaped into a piece of entitled outrage. The columns are hilarious. The real life adventures that Mr. and Mrs. Canning now face are not. At least to them. Some of us are roaring with laughter, though.