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Consumerism Among Kids

Oct 28th 2008For Information & Money Watch & Thoughts & Urban Living

This generation of young children is probably one of the most profitable generations when it comes to consumerism. The children being the target of invasive advertising where truth is distorted and where there is no clear line dividing what is real and not real is happening right before our eyes.

Children younger than eight easily believe what the ads are telling them. I know because I have two children in that age bracket. They think that just because a product is seen on television endorsed by good-looking children mean that they have to get those products on our next trip to the supermarket.

I do not subscribe to their wishes easily. Not because the children in a TV ad are eating vegetables as a result of the use of artificial flavoring mean I must have that too. Not because beautiful children with beautiful smiles use a certain brand of toothpaste mean I have to get that for them too. We gotta be more practical than believing in TV ads that aims to make a profit.

How can my children have a higher IQ by just drinking a certain brand of milk if I do not teach them how to use their thinking skills?

For me, good products do not need blatant advertising.

These products being advertised do not just center on food items which are most often than not bereft of nutritional value, but extends to clothes, toys, must-have electronic gadgets, events, and other consumables.

Excessive materialism and believing in products because of advertising are just a few things we can teach children regarding consumerism. Not everything should be carried from the supermarket aisle all the way to the ringing retail pos systems or in other words, cash register.

So what should parents do?

  • Teach your children the value of money. That not everything that looks good are really good.
  • Teach the children to distinguish what is important for them to have because they need it, not because others have it too. Teach between needs and wants.
  • Stop the children from developing the power to pester you. They may whine, beg, cry, shout and do you favors to get what they want from you but then again, ask them the question “Do you really, really thing?” “Would your survival depend on whether you have that thing or not?”
  • Teach about discernment. Why eating fruits for snacks are better than eating those sugar-laden crunchy food and salty chips is a start.
  • One more thing, as parents, they should also see that you practice what you preach them about consumerism. If you start with this, the rest would probably be easy.

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4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Consumerism Among Kids”

  1. myepinoy on 29 Oct 2008 at 10:42 pm 1

    I guess everything must start from parents themselves. In my opinion, a lot of parents are not different from kids except that parents have the means while the kids have to ask, whine, cry and what have you.

    My kids grew up hearing from me, “let us see.”, or “we will see.” everythime they asked for non essentials.

    With so much “materialism” everywhere, I doubt if what I did still works with the young kids now.

    I have seen a lot of very young kids who barely speak but they know “bee” (jolibee) or “doo” (mcdo) aside from dad and mom. kaya maganda mag franchise sa jolibee at mcdo. meron kang captive market – sino bang parents ang magrerefuse kung “bee” at “doo” ang gusto ng mga babies nila.

    Pero mas okay na ito kesa matutunan nila ang infomercial ni Money Villar at LoYen Legarda….. ha ha ha

  2. greenbucks on 04 Nov 2008 at 12:09 am 2

    MyePinoy, it still works, yung “we will see”.

    In my case, “After I have paid the bills”

    We can go to a toy store, browse, tinker, touch, press buttons and read labels and still come out empty handed without tantrums thrown.

    I guess it all boils down to parents really giving priorities to essentials over non-essentials. We don’t even give gifts during Christmas, after Christmas lang, after the gifts have been opened kami nagbibigay and they even choose what they like within a certain budget para siguradong gusto nila at walang aangal 😀

  3. Mitch on 05 Nov 2008 at 11:34 pm 3

    Ako naman I make a deal. Kasi usually when I take her to the mall, pag napadaan na sa rides, naku ayaw na papaawat. So what I do, I tell her muna na dapat kakain sya before she could ride. Same thing kapag nakakita ng inviting promo toys sa Jollibee, buti nga di masyado.

    Ngayon naman, whatever she sees on TV gusto ipabili, minsan deadma ko na lang kasi nauubusan na ako ng excuses hehe!

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