Are we raising spoilt children?

I teach dance, with many of my classes being teenagers and preteens. I have, through these years, begun to notice a pattern or phenomenon. This is that a large portion of these kids are being coddled, defended, and spoiled. It really concerns me. What will this generation look like? What will happen as a result of this? (okay maybe I'm starting to sound like an old lady, "....in my day, we had to walk to school with no shoes, in the snow....") But it really scares me.
I remember when I was young, how I used to sometimes feel sorry for myself. I'd talk to my dog and say how unfair my parents were. I am so thankful that they taught me some of these hard learned values. They taught me about humility, determination and hard work, persistence, patience, selflessness. When I didn't get a prize, they didn't sit around feeling sorry for me or calling my teachers in a rage. They just said, "that's life....keep working...keep trying." They didn't tell me, "you deserved it." Even if I did! They taught me how to fail gracefully. They taught me that it is the process, not the outcome that really matters. They taught me real success is not being #1 and not watching out for just myself. They taught me to be my brothers keeper, even at my own expense sometimes.
We all love being spoiled, and occasionally we are. But it should be an event, not an attitude!
One time a few years ago, a parent called me, fairly angry. It was because I had given her dear daughter a little bit of flack for being late. Now in retrospect, I should realize this is often the parents fault, but I didn't think of this. I didn't get angry, I just pointed out that they needed to get to class on time. Well, what ensued was that the parent was upset at me for correcting her daughter and "humiliating" her. It's not that I can't relate. I do understand the desire to defend our children, whom me love. Especially if we feel they've been unjustly treated. But are we handling them with kid gloves, and how will this affect their characters in the years to come? What happens when adversity and struggle hits their life? How will they handle strife? Are we doing them a favor by protecting them too much? Don't we need to also teach them to take correction? Don't we need to teach them that there are others in the world that matter too? Well, in that situation, I apologized to this girl. I felt, as a teacher I needed to practice humility too.
Once again, as many times in my teaching career (here in this little town only - oddly enough, in the city it was not an issue!!) I have another parent calling and saying her daughter's feelings were hurt because I gave another dancer a compliment and not the rest of the group. What about teaching your children to be happy for other peoples successes? Celebrating when someone else gets a little moment in the limelight. Do we want to see our kids and ourselves excel more than we want a Godly character, a Godly response?
I am a dance teacher today because of those times my dance teachers corrected me. Because of the times I was actually able to listen and apply their corrections. Yes, I had to learn to take correction. I had to learn to fail sometimes. I had to learn to watch and learn from the other students. I had to learn to be truely happy when someone else did a good job and not me. I had to learn that I wouldn't always be the winner. I had to learn I wouldn't always be awarded the prize. And that is why I continued.