The choices

Hypothetical imaginary conversations inside Fuzzy's head #64562

Ina- Mooom! I HAVE to go to this concert..all my rich-spoilt-rotten friends are going. I HAVE TO!

Mom-O.k. How much is this going to cost?

Ina- Just a mere $1200!

Mom- Sure sweetheart...I trust you would love a limo to go with it?

Ina- Wow mom!that would be swell

Mom- And of course you will need to go shop for a brand new outfit that's a "must" have for the season to flaunt as well?

Ina- Of course mom..you are a darling.

Mom- *Looking up from her book and straight into her eyes* Tell me one thing sweetheart. Do I look like I just had a lobotomy to you?

Apparently though some parents do undergo lobotomies when they have a child. Perhaps that explains why anyone would contemplate "This". By indulging kids in their every wish,whims and fancy instead of teaching them the difference between needs and wants are we not ending up raising a generation which grows up with unrealistic expectation of the world and that they are entitled to everything that they want? is it the guilt of our hectic lives that drives us to compensate it with other materialistic means for the time we cannot spend with them? or are we trying to live vicariously through our kids by yielding and indulging them with things we were not able to have as a child? Are we being so blind as to lose our common sense that a parent agrees to work double jobs just so the kid can indulge in $1200 stupid concert for her vanity??

In North America $3 billion is spent annually on advertising's directed towards kids. Kids today wield a power in the marketplace than ever before. Nearly half of the kids ask for the brand named things by age 5 in North America. They alone influence nearly $50 billion purchases of North American parents. According to a market study done two-thirds of parents say their kids define their self-worth in terms of possessions; half say their kids prefer to go to a shopping mall than to go hiking or on a family outing; and a majority admit to buying their children products they disapprove of — products that may even be bad for them — because the kids said they "needed" the items to fit in with their friends.

I think as a parent aspiring to give our kids everything and making their life comfortable is perhaps natural. But by raising them ill equipped to handle any disappointments,loss or responsibility is almost unforgivable. How are such kids going to fare out there in the real world where life is less than perfect? Making the right choice is a tool we need to provide them right from the start.

Parenting in today's age is harder than it was ever before. The streets are no longer safe,outer world demands we empower our kids with the knowledge of the dangers and evil that lurks out there. Technology is a big part of their lives from a very young age,they are more aware and more exposed to outer influences. We believe in a kid centered parenting where at times "No" is less preferable to explaining rationale behind it. Ground rules still exist not because "I said so" but because we are expected to engage the child to reach a common ground. The pressure to perform for the kids and the parents to prove themselves on that "Good parenting= successful kids" scale is intense. Long working hours, prosperity , indulgence and luxuries are a part of our lifestyle. Internet opens our home and kids to a treasure of knowledge and communication along with unthinkable evils which our parents generation never thought possible before. Amidst all this where exactly do we strike the balance to be authoritative yet approachable? yielding yet not over indulging?understanding yet in control? responsible yet lenient? Perhaps each one of us will find the answers along the journey learning every step of parenthood.

As for that $1200 ticket; Ina will probably know by the time she is capable of stating her wants that there's no way in hell that her mom is going to indulge such whims unless she had earned her way into it.