Why are kids so spoiled

spongebob89

I have a question, why do parents these days feel the need to spoil there kids rotton especially on Christmas, I know of parents on the dole driving everywhere to get their 4yo ipads and hundreds worth of presents. Herselfs nieces and nephews must of had the guts of a grand spent on them each. Gas thing is with all the ipads an technology the nipper recived he was mostly playing with a magnifying glass left in his sock

So how has the culture changed from the 70s when kids would get like one present (guns an holster) or whatever. I think this is why back then couples would normally have atleast 4+ kids and now less because they require alot more financially.

The Moldy Gowl

Because you touch yourself at night

mikemac1

In my day you got a lump of coal for Christmas and you went down mines to get it yourself!

Tearin It Up

A dole thread. Parents on the dole.

heldel00

Children do not understand the word "no".
Junior infant teacher I know spends September teaching 4/5 year olds that "if I say no it actually means no and i am not going to relent in a few minutes and give you your own way" Nnnnoooooooooooooo!

My guess a lot of folks didn't have much growing up and are giving there children everything if that makes any sense

The Moldy Gowl

...or you know, people have more money now, than in the 19 ****ing 70s where a loaf of bread would last a family of 14 a month

myshirt

Because I can't have your kids outshooting my kids

anncoates

Sometimes I wish I was on the dole so I could get my kids a gold-plated PS4 and post up a picture of it here with my dole wad placed provocatively atop it.

Tearin It Up

More disposable income, more cooler things to have. Little sh!t bags.

Tearin It Up

anncoates wrote: »

Sometimes I wish I was on the dole so I could get my kids a gold-plated PS4 and post up a picture of it here with my dole wad placed provocatively atop it.

You should see what I have.

Filmer Paradise

Bigger houses. Smaller families.

There's yer answer.

Next!!

mikemac1

I bet there were adults in Ancient Greece wondering why children were spoiled

Guess what OP, when you were a chizzler the same was said about you

efb

'Twas all different in my day. Girls got a petite 9-90 and lads got tractors

onlyrocknroll

Tbf not all kids are spoiled these days. Many of my friends with kids raise them to be really respectful and grateful for gifts and don't go ridiculously overboard when shopping for them. But I agree that many parents raise little monsters who get so ludicrously much that don't even say thanks.

(Sorry for being the typical childless person with an opinion on how to be a good parent)

I think it's because seeing your kids happy through giving them thing must be pretty emotionally gratifying.

cripesonfriday

I agree, let's go back to the 70's values, where a single present was enough.

Let's go further, let's not strap our kids into the back seats anymore, let's stop that ridiculous mollycoddling, never did me any harm to sit untethered in the back seat.

Some parents overspend, they do, a lot of them really do, but to say it's a new thing is nonsense, it's just that there is more technology at a lower price than there ever was in the 70s. So it is more noticeable.

We spent about 120 quid each on our kids, because that's what we had budgeted. It was enough for their requested gifts, and some really cool little surprises. They loved it. Like I loved it as a kid.

lulu1

Parents just cant seem to buy the kids enough these days ( was probably the same myself in my day) a little boy of 10 down the road came up showing us his iphone5. Now an 1phone 5 at 10 years old. My 16 year old asked to change her i phone 4 to a 5 I told her on yer bike.

BMJD

When my kids ask for anything, I just beat them!

That's the right answer, isn't it???

anncoates

lulu1 wrote: »

My 16 year old asked to change her i phone 4 to a 5 I told her on yer bike.

Pretty fancy having a bike that dispenses phones to be fair

crockholm

Fear.
Fear of being brought to one of those old folks homes where the staff rob and mistreat the seniors in their care,as a 70 year old man,and Before my eldest son leaves me there(probably never to visit again),he says "Dad,remember the time you got me a snow globe for christmas? No? Well,I remember"

berger89

The excuse that reeeeeally bugs me is:

"I want to give them what I didn't have when I was younger."

Go and fcuk yourself. Like c'mon, your parents kept you alive and you look like you were pretty well fed so I think they didn't do too bad. Bloody hate it when like previous posters have said..little toddlers getting iPads and mobile phones and don;t appreciate it etc. And parents say "oh I want to make up for when I was younger."

If you don't have the money, you don't buy it was my parents motto. they scrimped and saved and searched down the back of couches in order to put food on the table, and we were happy. We never wanted more…but we always got it. my parents never 'left us short'. they did their best.

i think these days a lot of the time, maybe by buying big expensive gifts, they are trying to compensate or something.

buried

Because we need to make the 'Celtic Tiger MKII' and this is the best way to go about it. Feed them the greed. Sure what could go wrong

cloud493

I did go overboard for mine this christmas. But then, she's lovely for the rest of the year, good as gold, well behaved, never demands anything, good at school, why shouldn't I spoil my kid at christmas? Long as its not detrimental to her behaviour for the rest of the year anyway :pac:

hfallada

Its because living standards are so much higher now than previous generations. Most peoples grandparents generally didnt have a pot to piss. But recession or no recession. The standard of living in Ireland is extremely high. A new car is affordable, a computer is a weeks wages versus a months wages in the early 1990s.

Irish children would have been this spoiled in the 1950s if their families had money

lulu1

anncoates wrote: »

Pretty fancy having a bike that dispenses phones to be fair

They are all the craze here

tempnam

I think there's an element of competition among parents at play. Especially now since many people's first reaction is to post pictures / videos on Facebook of their kids opening their presents.

All kids really want is your time & attention though. And that costs nothing in monetary terms.

onlyrocknroll

cripesonfriday wrote: »

I agree, let's go back to the 70's values, where a single present was enough.

Let's go further, let's not strap our kids into the back seats anymore, let's stop that ridiculous mollycoddling, never did me any harm to sit untethered in the back seat.

Some parents overspend, they do, a lot of them really do, but to say it's a new thing is nonsense, it's just that there is more technology at a lower price than there ever was in the 70s. So it is more noticeable.

We spent about 120 quid each on our kids, because that's what we had budgeted. It was enough for their requested gifts, and some really cool little surprises. They loved it. Like I loved it as a kid.

I don't know if it's a new thing or not, but to be fair it's crazy somethings.

A friend of mine (who has kids) watched his partners twelve-year-old nephew line up all his presents in a row, tear the paper off each one in turn, and not smile or say thank you for a single one.

anncoates

tempnam wrote: »

All kids really want is your time & attention though..

1982

My ma: do you want an Atari and a BMX or my time and attention?

Me: Only your time and attention mummy,

My ma: Come on, let's go to the orphanage and give somebody your football boots.

Me: I love you mummy.


/sick bucket

One eyed Jack

I think you're only seeing what you want to see OP. I know of many children who don't get a whole lot for Christmas, but they appreciate what they get all the same, and the funniest reaction I saw over Christmas was actually from the adults whose faces dropped when one of them asked one child what she got for Christmas -

"Connect 4" she said, and that was it. The little girl herself was chuffed to get it, but the woman asking her was expecting her to reel off a list of presents

tempnam

anncoates wrote: »

1982

My ma: do you want an Atari and a BMX or my time and attention?

Me: Only your time and attention mummy,

My ma: Come on, let's go to the orphanage and give somebody your football boots.

Me: I love you mummy.


/sick bucket

Yeah thats exactly what I meant.

Candy_Girl

Kids just get cooler toys or gadgets now, things that just weren't around in my day nor could my parents afford. Saying that my children didn't get everything on their Santa list..I draw the line on on certain things and I watch my budget. Whoever thinks a 10 year old should have an I Phone needs their heads tested.

Sh1tbag OToole

tempnam wrote: »

Especially now since many people's first reaction is to post pictures / videos on Facebook of their kids opening their presents.

People do that?

Sorry havn't been following this whole facebook fad in the past 5 years

SEPT 23 1989

I dealt with the Russians my poor unfortunates will have to deal with ISIS

ZeroThreat

This thread once again reminds me how lucky I am to be single with no kids

The Moldy Gowl

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

People do that?

Sorry havn't been following this whole facebook fad in the past 5 years

People still do this?


Preach about not being on Facebook? I haven't followed this fad for a while

PizzamanIRL

It's stupid seeing kids get hundreds of euro worth of toys from different sides of the family. They won't play with them all. They won't appreciate them all. You're better off putting that money up for when they need and appreciate it.

Candy_Girl

ZeroThreat wrote: »

This thread once again reminds me how lucky I am to be single with no kids

Each to their own.

MadsL

spongebob89 wrote: »

I have a question, why do parents these days feel the need to spoil there kids rotton especially on Christmas, I know of parents on the dole driving everywhere to get their 4yo ipads and hundreds worth of presents. Herselfs nieces and nephews must of had the guts of a grand spent on them each. Gas thing is with all the ipads an technology the nipper recived he was mostly playing with a magnifying glass left in his sock

So how has the culture changed from the 70s when kids would get like one present (guns an holster) or whatever. I think this is why back then couples would normally have atleast 4+ kids and now less because they require alot more financially.

Never mind the 70s, back to the 1500s dammit.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26289459

Around the year 1500, an assistant to the Venetian ambassador to England was struck by the strange attitude to parenting that he had encountered on his travels.

He wrote to his masters in Venice that the English kept their children at home "till the age of seven or nine at the utmost" but then "put them out, both males and females, to hard service in the houses of other people, binding them generally for another seven or nine years". The unfortunate children were sent away regardless of their class, "for everyone, however rich he may be, sends away his children into the houses of others, whilst he, in return, receives those of strangers into his own".

Tony EH

Because people are generally stupid.

They think that giving their little brat everything they ask for is good parenting and then wonder why everybody thinks that little Kylie or Reece are utter cünts.

The kids also wonder why they can't have everything they want when they get older, because that's way it was when they were young, and then they get "depressed" and all "poor me" and "life's unfair" for the rest of their days, unable to function under their own steam.

Sometimes "no" really is the best answer.

endacl

There's another thread going on with a chap who's stingy parents only get him stuff to make collages. And he gets it during the year!

Not even at Christmas, dammit!!!

RayM

In my day, you had to make your own iPad and PS4.

endacl

RayM wrote: »

In my day, you had to make your own iPad and PS4.

You had a day? Luxury! We had a picosecond. And used every bloody minute of it.

:mad:

Tarzana2

efb wrote: »

Girls got a petite 9-90

Oh my god, what was this?

I had a visceral reaction when I read it. I KNOW I wanted one as a little girl. But I can't for the life of me think what a petite 9-90 was. And google wouldn't tell me. What was it? WHAT WAS IT?

endacl

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Oh my god, what was this?

I had a visceral reaction when I read it. I KNOW I wanted one as a little girl. But I can't for the life of me think what a petite 9-90 was. And google wouldn't tell me. What was it? WHAT WAS IT?

My google-fu is stronger than your google-fu, Grasshopper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/petite-typewriter

efb

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Oh my god, what was this?

I had a visceral reaction when I read it. I KNOW I wanted one as a little girl. But I can't for the life of me think what a petite 9-90 was. And google wouldn't tell me. What was it? WHAT WAS IT?

A toy typewriter- did Google not help?

Eramen

The middle class spoil the hell out of their little feckers. The pile of presents usually stack taller than the tree, and the waste from said presents amount to twice that again.. Though such fun is to be had swimming through the voluptuous papered masses of spent packaging.

And the 'working class' act like they couldn't give a b*llocks about their wee ones. That rack load of beer bottles in the recycling bin tell the story better than I ever could. Oh, and single mothers .. (self-censored).

Of course - I generalise - I'm sure your heart is broken and lackluster indignation appropriate. And so the former watch the latter while sipping red wine and nibbling on 'specially selected' crackers and everything somehow connects in watching the Royal Family Christmas special on the box - all amid the hazy feeling of intoxication.

But still, can't we somehow strive to reach a healthy 'in-between' that's best for both parents and children? Mounds of presents on Giftmas only serves the ill-forces of our society. The higher element of the holiday is open to all and would best be rekindled in our minds; though the former would reply to that with some eejitcated nonsense and the latter certainly don't give a fcúk.

Tarzana2

endacl wrote: »

My google-fu is stronger than your google-fu, Grasshopper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/petite-typewriter

efb wrote: »

A toy typewriter- did Google not help?

Not at all - THAT'S what I wanted? Crazy, strange little child. :pac:

endacl

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Not at all - THAT'S what I wanted? Crazy, strange little child. :pac:

Follow the link. You can have one now. For next to nowt!

Tarzana2

endacl wrote: »

Follow the link. You can have one now. For next to nowt!

I just can't believe I wanted a typewriter!

jank

Its easy to spend money you don't have, hard to pay it back. Its much harder to be a good parent that teaches kids the value of money and respect for work.

Mink

A big difference these days is that kids get bought for by Santa, their parents, both sets of grandparents, aunties and uncles and then sometimes close family friends. Whereas it used to be just Santa/parents and maybe a godparent.

We were careful not to go overboard, just a big pressie from Santa and then some stocking fillers. Some relatives bought clothes & books for him rather than a toy as he'll have so many. With the toys he did get I made sure to get a pic of him playing with them and sent it to the relative that bought it so they could see he appreciated it (he doesn't really talk much yet so doesn't say thanks, though we are teaching him!).