I have a more difficult time in the grocery aisle where sometimes the difference in quality at least seems noticable. Certain generics are just fine, while others…

We are also a “media-deficient” family. We do have a TV (but no cable), but the only shows we watch are Jeopardy! and The Simpsons, neither of which tend to have commercials for anything my kids find interesting. No cartoons, nothing.

Two things I’m wondering about, though:

(1) My kids are total LEGO maniacs. They eat, sleep and breathe LEGO. And LEGO offers a free magazine, which is of course little more than an advertisement for more LEGO products. The kids devour every issue as soon as it arrives and read each one into shreds. (In fact, it’s about the only thing my seven-year-old will read, other than Calvin and Hobbes.) They love to talk about which LEGO models they want to buy and which they’d like to get as gifts. Do you think letting them subscribe to this magazine is encouraging a damaging consumerist attitude?

(2) I travel for business several times a year, and when I’m gone for more than a couple of days, I usually bring my sons back a little treat. Most recently, I brought them each a stuffed animal from FAO Schwarz in Las Vegas (we don’t have an FAO in Portland). Do you think bringing them goodies is sending them the wrong message? I really just want them to know I was thinking about them even though I was far away. (And each of those stuffed animals gets played with every day and snuggled with every night. My kids are in that small percentage of children whose stuffed animals are more than just dust collectors.)

Me: Do you ever feel like you have to have some kind of evidence that you’ve been somewhere or done something, just so you can prove to yourself that it actually happened?

Him: YES. Why do you think I take so many pictures?

Town or state fairs, vacations on the beach, many childhood memories form not just about experiences, but about remembering things that you rarely get otherwise (amusement park rides, smell of popcorn, waffle cones, Big stuffed cartoon characters, etc.). All of this helps make the memory.

If you decide you don’t need to purchase souvenirs or something to remember the place by, that’s fine. Otherwise, just make a point of limiting it. There’s no real harm in allowing in your budget twenty dollars per kid on a trip as blow money, or letting them bring a chunk of their own allowance money to spend. Then when they’re picking things my first question is always, “that’s nice, how are you going to use it? (the follow-up is often “kind of expensive to just be sitting on a shelf.”)” or “Do you really want to spend all your money on that and not be able to spend it on anything else this vacation?”

You’d be surprised at how the little wheels of their minds start turning.

If all you do is shut down their ability to decide, chances are when they get a bit older they won’t discriminate among their purchases or they’ll rebel and buy all kinds of crap to their own detriment.

Me, if I buy anything at all, I usually confine it to a t-shirt or hat, or something else I feel I’ll actually get some use out of.

Lisa

Maybe you shouldn’t worry too much about this as children always want to take home treasures. These can also be chunks of wood, leaves, flowers, brambles and other finds when walking in the woods.
Maybe children ought to be taken out more to walk, cycle and climb trees instead of going to the mall or watch television!!

I think we (adults) associate brands with quality. For the most part, I’m pretty good about buying store brands at the grocery store. I’m surprised by the number of people who will immediately reach for name brands because they must be better. For the most part, I’m happy with store brands and off brands. There are exceptions, however. A lot of times, I’ll go for more expensive frozen pizza or ice cream because it tastes better in most cases. (HEB Creamy Creations Ice Cream is an exception to the exception, however.)

Sometimes trusting a brand makes sense. My Tevas are expense, but they are comfortable and will hold up to several years of heavy use. And would you buy a car from a car manufacturer you had never heard of?

why not?

You have to wait two days. I split this chapter into multiple posts because there were a lot of things to write about.

But Trent, you kind of held out on us! I was hoping to hear more about what made you so outraged–more about the survey itself, and the things that set you off. Could you tell us more about the survey, what specifically the researchers found led to things like psychological problems? Or do we have to go read the book? :-(

Saw a new thing at Sam’s today… “Honest Kids” Yogurt! I won’t even comment on that one.