Gimme, Gimme, Gimme
Shopping has become recreation. We never feel as though we earn enough, or have enough. There’s always another clothing item to buy, upgrade to complete, or gadget we can’t live without. Did you know that self storage facilities in the U.S. have increased by 36% in the last five years? There’s enough self-storage space to cover three times the size of Manhattan. Why is this industry one of the fastest growing in America? Because we have so much stuff that we can’t cram it all into our houses!
There’s so much new technology that is helpful and fun, but so darn distracting too. How often do you see a kid now-a-days without something electronic in their hands? Not too often, I’ll bet. Do your kids ask you for — no, demand – new stuff all the time? Can they be happy with last year’s MP3 player, or last decade’s stereo or… maybe… solitude and quiet? What are some of the effects of this frenzied, consumer culture on our children, the parents of the future?
April 16th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
i walk into my kids rooms and cringe. it’s embarrassing how much stuff they have. last year i just decided i’d had enough and i started saying no to buying more things! i also stopped my habit of picking things up for them all the time… little “gifts” here and there when i felt like i missed them because i’d been at work too long, or whatever. it didn’t make me very popular at first, but they did get used to it.