Are kids spoilt?

[Perdita]

kids grow, get bored of what they got so rather than have connor doing nothing i replace his toys! Dont agree with not giving children anything all year, a 99p car, a £5 game every now and then dosent hurt at all.

When I was little, my Mum always used to put some toys that I had not played with for a while, in the cellar or attic and after 6 months or so would swap them round again. I had forgotten that I had some of the toys and it was like getting new ones again. Obviously, a new colouring book and pencils are a bit different, I used to get them occasionally as a treat.

[Trinity]

Kids today have more than kids had in my day. Why? Because parents play keep up with the Jones's using credit cards - and some children know just what buttons to press in the Mummy /Daddy war.

I am 42, and when I was a child I had a radio cassette player, a portable TV in my room and a bike. All were christmas presents.

My sons are teenagers. They have ipods, phones, computers - but no TV in their room. There is a flat screen HD TV , a xbox360 and Sky TV in there playroom. They have 2 bikes each dirt jumpers and regular mountain bikes. Drum kit, brass instuments and a piano. Tennis lesssons (and expensive raquets), brass lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons. They are both members at David Lloyd Club. They go on all the school trips such as Skiing in France, they have had years of skiing lessons and are both great skiers, language trips to Europe etc.

My eldest has been promised £200 if he gets 8 '1's in his standard grades (the Scottish equivalent of As the GCSE). If he gets 7 1s this goes down to £10 per A. If he only gets 6 1s then he gets nothing. This sounds tough but he needs the grades for what he wants to do.

My kids saved up for the dirt bikes, the ipods, the xbox360 and the phones - they tend to get cash for Christmas now to help them to do this.

My kids feel hard done too in comparison to some of their friends who have 42" plasma tvs in their rooms together with xbox 360s
AND PS3 AND wii.

I don't feel that they appreciate that in the great scheme of things they are quite lucky.

Do I think they are spoiled?

Yes.

[alan45]

Lots of parents today have more disposable income than my parents had when I was growing up. Take my niece and her husband for instance both in very good jobs. They spend not only money on their kids but more importantly they spend the most precious commodity of all time with their children. Weekends are family time and the kids are taken ice sakting, swimmming, football and all the other things. My wife thinks they are spoiled but you have to remember that when we were growing up there were no such things as ipods of Nintendos. People did not earn as much in those days. Colour TVs cost the equvalent of maybe 6 months wages. Now you can by them for less than 50 quid. We live in a different era now.

[Perdita]

Kids today have more than kids had in my day. Why? Because parents play keep up with the Jones's using credit cards - and some children know just what buttons to press in the Mummy /Daddy war.
.

I agree with you, I am sure that this happens a lot. I have heard though from others that their kids got bullied at school if they did not wear brand clothes and did not have all the technology in the house as some others. I think it must have been easier for parents and kids alike years ago when there was not that much technology and brand clothes around.

[Meh]

Me, aged 12, has the following assets (1984)

1. Second hand raleigh chopper - cost £11
2. Amstrad CPC464 - cost £199 (Had to pester my parents for ages for this. Best investment they made in me )
3. Err, that's it

I agree with Trinity. Parents max out their CC to keep up with the Jones. Best thing you can give your kids is your time.

[Siobhan]

I know some parents who borrow from credit unions etc to pay for christmas!! they spend the rest of the year paying it back just to borrow again the following year and in most case it is "so we can give our kids what we never got"... I never ever spend more than I can afford. If my kids want expensive stuff, I will go without just so they can have

I do know a lot of kids who demand stuff all through the year and blackmail their parents for it..... now that is what I do call spoilt.. It is never about the presents but how these are gotten.. are they just for christmas and bdays.. then fine but all through the year I see more and more kids getting the "lastest" stuff.. phone, ipod etc...

[Trinity]

I don't use credit cards to pay for Christmas, however I am in quite a fortunate position. I know loads of kids whose parents feel forced to buy them the latest kit because, 'everyone in my class has got x, y or z".

I didn't allow my eldest a mobile phone until he was at high school - he has a 25 minute bus trip and it is essential that he can let me know if he has missed the bus or whatever.

With my younger son I was basically forced into getting him a phone in P7. A local child was abducted and murdered and the police visited the school and told the kids that they need a phone for safety.

A lot of things my kids get they totally take for granted, however some things are really because we want them to have them e.g. the music lesson etc. I have never not let them do anything on the grounds of cost, however, if I didn't have the money then I don't think that I would get into debt to allow them to go on school trips etc.

My husband was the youngest of a large family and he didn't get any of the things I took for granted in my childhood. I went to clubs and brownies/guides, school trips etc. My husband didn't get to do these sort of things because of cost and perhaps that is why he is so keen for our kids to get the opportunities he missed out on.

My husband didn't go abroad until he was grown up.

My kids have been to Madrid, Paris, London, Venice, Rome, Tuscany, Italian Lakes, Brittanny. Loire Valley, South of France, Florida (several times), Skiing in the Alps (several times) Center Parcs every year etc etc. To them it is normal to go on holiday several times a year.

God help them when they grow up, try to get on the housing ladder and have to pay their own way!

[Jojo]

I think I should change my surname....

I agree with the mobile phone thing - my eldest got his when he started high school 2 years ago - not before. None of my other boys will get a phone till they're at high school either - its not needed prior to then. To see 6yr olds with mobiles is pretty infuriating to be honest - why do they need them at that age?!

I don't have any credit cards, neither does hubby. We work our butts off to earn the money that we can afford nice things for our family unit. We don't go down the pub and pee it up against a wall, we hardly ever go on holiday because hubby doesn't like to let our customers down. The last time we went on holiday was 4 years ago. Hence why we buy nice things for our home.

[Trinity]

I think I should change my surname....

Why?
.................................................. .....

[Jojo]

I think I should change my surname....

Why?
.................................................. .....

I'm a Jones....