DON'T THEORISE! ACCESSORIZE!

[myniamh]

Documentary: Consuming Kids: Commercialization of Childhood
Creepy, creepy, creepy arsed documentary on advertising to children (in the US). Holy crap.

Comments

[aphephobia]

See, that's where I'm weird. Lewis threw MEGA EPIC LJ-entry-worthy tantrums when we were out... because he was autistic. Or because there'd been some change in his routine or something freaked him out or because we were wanting to go do other things and he wanted to look at the stock market figures on the Teletext TVs in Myer or whatever. Toys wouldn't have placated him... hell, I've tried bribery, and that has only a very limited success rate! I've gotten used to being that parent that cops the filthy looks: if it's not because my kids are being demonic hellspawn, it's because I look young, or because I don't dress like a soccer mum or because I'm smoking or because my kid has green hair or because I've sworn loudly. People will find fault with ANYTHING when it comes to parents.

Neo nowadays will ask for stuff (and Lew will now, too), but it's stuff that I actually know he'll use, and he doesn't ask that much. He's quite happy to hear "Maybe for your birthday" about the majority of things. Both of them understand that sometimes Mum and/or Dad don't have the cash to splash: generally they're pretty good kids like that. (And in all fairness, I don't mind buying up big for Christmas and birthdays; they love their gaming stuff and it's more because I was the one who pointed out how cool something was, not them getting pressured by advertising and trends.)

[myniamh]

Mum used to have to get a baby sitter when she went to the shops, my brothers would chuck such a fit if we walked past the toy section.

You are a good mum, because of all of that.