> Dennis wrote:
> "This makes me want to ask if people have ideas or methods about how
> to temper kids becoming little shopping drones. I don't want to rely
> on things like "get a job" or "you don't know the value of a dollar"
> but I do find those tapes running through my head before I reject
> them. But so far I'm pretty ad-hoc about it. It's hard because you
> don't want to be a grinch but I think as a parent you have to counter
> the marketing behemoth somehow."
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Use these occasions to teach the little ones about the harsh realities of
capitalism. The shopping expedition affords an excellent way to demonstrate
in practice how consumer demand is affected by a lack of purchasing power.
If you can't resist telling the child to "get a job", make sure to ruefully
add that there aren't any available and to explain why.
Give the child the right to vote on their proposal. If you're with a partner, you'll both garner a whopping 2/3 of the vote. The child may eventually get frustrated and upset by the exercise, but you can patiently explain this is how democracy works, and that in your little family you all believe in democracy.
Even if you're alone, you can still invite a vote and then break the tie by invoking the "golden rule" which the child has already learned in your leftist household - to wit, them that has the gold makes the rules.
Again, this may meet with howls, but you will not have to shell out for a toy and the child will have learned some valuable life lessons.