There is no doubt that we live in a consumerist society. We are conditioned from a young age to buy what we need and what we want. You try to sheild your children from the media blitz, the commericals for the latest game, toy or movie. But it is difficult.
We try to limit new toys for Bunny to special occasions. Right now I am stocking up on little presents for when we start potty training. Nothing big just coloring books, crayons, little dinos (shocking I know) etc. But she doesn't get toys on a regular basis. We have enough here that she doesn't play with, she doesn't need any more.
I will however buy new books for her. I want her to love reading as much as I do. We check out books regularly from the library but we also like to have a variety of books at home. So she gets new books.
So we try not to spoil her. We try not to expose her to the consumer blitz. But she is not immune.
She has learned the words "Buy it." She knows that if she wants something we don't have, we can go to the store and "buy it." Yikes!
Luckily for us, her consumerist wants only center around food. She wants a pear, we only have apples. "Lets go to store to buy pears, momma." She wants chocolate milk, we don't have any. "Lets go buy some." No juice, "lets go buy it."
We don't give in to her demands but I blame myself for this behavior. I take her to the store with me all the time. I tell her we have to buy food for dinner. We need to get more milk because we've run out and so on.
Its because of me that my daughter knows the words "buy it." I've created another little consumer monster.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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4 comments:
Me? I think that's super cute. I'd buy her whatever she wanted just for being adorable.
She's going to learn it anyway, better from you than the TV....
Food is not the worst thing in the world that she could want to "buy" at least it's still fairly "inexpensive", just wait till she gets older and the taste gets more expensive, if she's anything like her momma she'll be able to pick out the most expensive thing in the store as what she really likes (momma has really good taste in things)
No matter what - honestly, even if you locked her in a room and kept her in the dark all day (which you wouldn't!) - she'd learn about our little consumer world. The best thing you can do is use this chance to help her learn how to make good buying decisions and how to see through marketing hype!
Its unavoidable. We have no choice but to teach our children the "easy access" way of life, since we don't live in a 3rd world country. The important thing is that we don't teach the kids to go out and get what we don't need. When I am grocery shopping I don't get 3 different kinds of juice...we pick one, etc. That is how I try and take a hold of it. Ahh,,,rambling. Sorry! Parenting is like walking on a balancing beam all day long. Can't fall off either side for fear of over doing or under doing it. I'm done now. LOL, thanks for letting me vent! :)
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