Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (Trailer)

What are we doing to our children???:

Important question. After looking at our credit card statements we might also ask, 'what are we allowing our children to do to us?'

Interesting topic for a film. I can't wait for the action figures to come out. ;-) I want the wimpy dad that has a spring-loaded arm with rapid-fire credit card action.™

MC

Thanks for posting this link. This is an issue that really can get me fired up!

Recently I was talking to our SIL and they have four children. They did an experiment that for one month no video/computer games, no video viewing, etc. He told us it made a radical difference in how the children play and interact with each other.

Too many moms buy their daughters Barbie dolls. Why not baby dolls? Barbie dolls encourage one to be sexy and all it entails. Baby dolls plays in to the maternal instinct that resides within a girl and feeds it, helps her to anticipate motherhood with a husband loving and supporting her. Very basic.

Children need toys that are building blocks for the imagination, like blocks of all kinds - square blocks, rectangle ones, Lego's, lincoln logs. Or, give them a sand box and a few basic toys and see what they can do. When our boys were little they had different kinds of farm equipment toys. They did use our back yard and made ridges, roads and what have you. It would never have won any one's prize for beautiful landscaping. They grew up - eventually - and the their roads, ridges, mountains disappeared and the grass took over... Today they are very resourceful men, working hard and doing well in their occupation.

Basically all a child needs is the opportunity to play and give them a few things and allow their imagination to take over. Buying all this gadgetry robs a child of the ability to create, stifles the development of imagination, creativity which will be so useful as an adult.

Caving in to the toy commercials teaches children that possessing things lead to happiness which is materialism in its worse forms. How much money will be wasted in trying to satisfy that need which can never be satisfied - for long.

So, what are we training our children to be?

ginnyorse

I want the wimpy dad that has a spring-loaded arm with rapid-fire credit card action.™

Classic Compton, folks.