Chirstmas.
Christmas creates this endless loop of debt that sweeps across the nation every year as parents rush to spend their savings on an excessive amout of shit for their kids. WHO NEEDS that many things? What does it teach our kids about values?
I know, because i was one of those kids. At christmas time, i was given ALOT of crap. Most of it, i didnt even want, or need, yet i was given it, just so it could be 'another gift' to be given. And in my family, the younger you are, the more toys you get. Then ofcourse, being the oldest, my hand-me-downs are piled up ontop of the excess of christmas gifts, most of which, havent been touched. Needless to say, my house has alot of shit in it.
Another thing that was payed attention to in my family of 4 kids, was WHO seemed to get the most gifts, no matter their value, it was a quantity over quality ordeal.
To me, the most sickening part of this whole bit, is that my parents could NOT AFFORD to buy this many gifts for us. We were (thier debt has just been payed off by recieving a huge abundance of back pay in child support from my dad) in credit card debt so ridiculously bad that i couldnt stand to watch my mom balance the checkbook.
And by putting an emphasis on 'what you get' from family as opposed to 'what you do' with the family... what does that teach kids? What becomes important? Materialism. When kids feel like 'mommy and daddy love me' when they open the Nintendo Wii on christmas day, what is that? Is our society so blind to obvious child psychology and effects that they keep doing this, or do they not even care? And that comes back around to "Oh did you hear what the Peters family got their son for christmas? A MUSTANG. wow." or "Mom, bobby at school told me that him, his brother and his sister ALL got thier OWN PS3 for christmas. psh. I wish i was them." It's big in small town family wealth compitition. Which is exactly what I think my family is burdened with. Poor families acting rich through credit cards. It doesnt work.
Why cant we make Christmas special in a genuine way? By having fun with the family, and no, i dont mean by sitting infront of your new HD Bravia (my parents just 'bought' one of those) and being 'entertained', i mean by ACTUALLY having human interaction. Playing cards, Monopoly, making cookies, all those things can be fun too, and those things are something much more memorable than oogling the stupid high definition tv.
I know, because i was one of those kids. At christmas time, i was given ALOT of crap. Most of it, i didnt even want, or need, yet i was given it, just so it could be 'another gift' to be given. And in my family, the younger you are, the more toys you get. Then ofcourse, being the oldest, my hand-me-downs are piled up ontop of the excess of christmas gifts, most of which, havent been touched. Needless to say, my house has alot of shit in it.
Another thing that was payed attention to in my family of 4 kids, was WHO seemed to get the most gifts, no matter their value, it was a quantity over quality ordeal.
To me, the most sickening part of this whole bit, is that my parents could NOT AFFORD to buy this many gifts for us. We were (thier debt has just been payed off by recieving a huge abundance of back pay in child support from my dad) in credit card debt so ridiculously bad that i couldnt stand to watch my mom balance the checkbook.
And by putting an emphasis on 'what you get' from family as opposed to 'what you do' with the family... what does that teach kids? What becomes important? Materialism. When kids feel like 'mommy and daddy love me' when they open the Nintendo Wii on christmas day, what is that? Is our society so blind to obvious child psychology and effects that they keep doing this, or do they not even care? And that comes back around to "Oh did you hear what the Peters family got their son for christmas? A MUSTANG. wow." or "Mom, bobby at school told me that him, his brother and his sister ALL got thier OWN PS3 for christmas. psh. I wish i was them." It's big in small town family wealth compitition. Which is exactly what I think my family is burdened with. Poor families acting rich through credit cards. It doesnt work.
Why cant we make Christmas special in a genuine way? By having fun with the family, and no, i dont mean by sitting infront of your new HD Bravia (my parents just 'bought' one of those) and being 'entertained', i mean by ACTUALLY having human interaction. Playing cards, Monopoly, making cookies, all those things can be fun too, and those things are something much more memorable than oogling the stupid high definition tv.