What's wrong with kids today? I don't know but maybe it is simply that they are pampered little tyrants in the making. I have kids and I've been one, these are my only qualifications to make an observation like this.
When I was younger I did love Christmas. Still do, so do my kids. I used to write to Santa and I'd maybe get what I wanted, sometimes not. I was expected to be gracious and write thank-you notes either way - my partner had similar experiences with his childhood and we can (hopefully) say the same for our own kids.
With hindsight it didn't really matter what we were gifted - I have probably forgotten at least a ton of loved and hated gifts over the years and the overall memories of the season are nice ones and I don't think the presents were the thing that made them so.
I was utterly gobsmacked reading the paper; some parents had paid in excess of £2000 for a Wii console in time for Christmas- just to keep the children happy. A few pages after that revelation, a snippet claiming that most British children have goods worth in excess of £1800 in their bedrooms alone!
I find myself increasingly mystified at the endless reporting of horrifying demands made by bratty little bullies, throughout the year, reaching a crescendo of sickening material overindulgence in the name of Christmas.
Kids are kids and will ask for the moon on a stick, the job of parents is surely to curb this kind of demanding behavior and install a sense of balance to the greed of youth, thus I'm ultimately more disturbed that parents don't seem aware or bothered that their total surrender to this kind of emotional blackmail is setting a deeply unstable route for the little darlings in the future. Ultimately this bizarre trend of weak parenting will surely have a terribly adverse effect on our society, which the spoilt little monsters will one day inherit.
The task was easier this year as they both wanted a PS3; they got one to share, with two games each. It made the buying a lot easier because that's pretty much all they got given the price of the chosen item.
My bloke and I explained the funds etc and they're reasonably happy with their choice of one massive present, in terms of money and desire. Even if they'd wanted a Wii, instead of a PS3, it would have been kindly and firmly explained to our much loved, cherished rug rats that two thousand pounds for a console that retails at less than two hundred is insane on many levels, and even though it is within our means financially we just wouldn't.
I got the children Mp3 players in the summer, that cost about half what an ipod would on the premise that if the mid-range versions survived more than a month without getting broken or lost I might think about splashing out the extra £100 quid on an ipod. I'm not being mean; I set the same rule for myself, as I'm as likely to break/lose such a gadget as they are. I got a five pound mp3 player and used it for three months without breaking, losing or strangulating myself with the head phones before I bought an ipod shuffle. Believe me it's not the £69 shuffle the children crave and I'm more than unwilling to spend in excess of £100 notes on a fragile device until they demonstrated capability not to stand on it or drop it in the bath or leave it on a park bench…my daughter asked for Chanel sunglasses, because her buddy has a pair, funnily enough she's not getting any, mainly because she spelt Chanel as Channel, if you can't spell it, you are not old enough to wear it!
I'm not mean by nature and we have a reasonable income - I really believe that the world has gone mad and admit to be resistant to surrendering to such madness without one hell of a fight. Does paying so highly over the odds for a games console prove the spoilt child is loved more or less than my children or make the buyer a better parent? I'm serious! A parent at my daughters school snottily informed me if I loved my child as much as she loved hers, and was as good a mother as she claims to be I'd do anything to make my child happy…Hmm.
The compromise in this house would have been a substitute bundle of stuff on Christmas day and a Wii in January when I have no doubt that the shops will be laden down with them, probably at half price…I know my children would have been content with this compromise because we try to teach them about life, and the real world - horrid and depressing as it can be - outside the relative comfort under our roof , a world of tough where disappointment is as in firmly in attendance as desire, a world where having your deepest wishes granted is generally hampered by a glut of mundane practicalities, in or out of your control, like financial limits and supplier failures. Sometimes it's just a question of waiting a few weeks longer to attain your dream, instead of paying excessive sums for instant gratification to quiet a whiner.
