How Much Is Enough?
By David J. Bredehoft
It could be that children today are more overindulged than we were, but then again, doesn’t every generation look back on their own formative years through rosy glasses, and at the generation directly following them with critical eyes wide open?
Approximately 2,350 years ago, Socrates made the following observation about children in his time: “The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love to chatter in place of exercise. Children are tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs and tyrannize over their teachers.”
Fast forward a couple thousand years and Socrates’ words sound very much like children in 2004.
One way to think about the question (Are today’s children more overindulged than children growing up in the past?) is to look at today’s numbers.
A 2001 Time/CNN poll asked and found the following: 1. Are children today more or less spoiled than children 10 or 15 years ago? 80% more. 2. Are your own children spoiled or not spoiled? 68% very/somewhat spoiled. 3. Do children today have to do fewer or more chores? 75% fewer. 4. Are your children exposed to too much advertising when it comes to toys and games they might buy? 71% too much advertising. • Companies spend an estimated $14.4 billion dollars annually to advertise products to kids. • Children become brand conscious by age 3, and half ask for specific brands by age 5. • Children influence parental decisions to the tune of $290 billion annually. • Children 18 and under spend $150 billion each year. • Americans under 25 spend 5 times more money than their parents did at that age. • The average credit card debt for college freshmen is $1,533. The average credit card debt for college seniors is $3,262. 4% of college freshmen have debt over $7,000. • Experts figure the annual ‘tween-age’ (5-12 yr. olds) buying power at about $85 billion. • U.S. teens spend, on average, $80 per shopping trip to the mall. • Average back-to-school spending per family in 2003 was $450.76 for a total of $14.1 billion dollars. • A growing number of parents are leaving school shopping to their ‘tween-age’ children. • 50% of teenagers (14-16) say they’ve received little or no financial advice from their parents. • The fastest growing bankruptcy rate is among adults under 25. • On average, a child spends four hours in front of the TV each day and views 40,000 commercials per year. • A recently released study found that for every hour of TV watched daily by 3-year-olds, there was a 10% increased risk of attention deficit problems by age 7. • Of the typical 48 hours spent weekly on household chores, children average 6 hours, husbands average 10 hours and wives 32. • 56.9 percent of 16-to 19-year-olds worked or looked for a job last summer [2002] — the lowest percentage since 1964, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate has been declining steadily since 1978, when it peaked at 69.1 percent.
Now that you have read the numbers, how would you answer the question? Are children more overindulged today than we were?
Some tips for avoiding overindulgence: Set limits on how much TV your children can watch and enforce them.
Teach your children to do chores. Talk about money management with your children. Educate your children about the effects of advertisements. Teach the difference between wants and needs.
Become a good role model for your child. Talk the talk and walk the walk. Set a goal of eating one well-balanced meal as a family each day.
Limit the number of fast food meals you and your children consume.
There is more help about avoiding overindulgence in “How Much is Enough? Everything You Need to Know to Steer Clear of Overindulgence and Raise Likable, Responsible, and Respectful Children.” (David J. Bredehoft Ph.D., Jean Illsley Clarke Ph.D., and Connie Dawson Ph.D., are coauthors of How Much Is Enough? Everything You Need to Know to Steer Clear of Overindulgence and Raise Like-able, Responsible and Respectful Children – From Toddlers to Teens. David To read more about overindulgence go to www.overindulgence.info)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 15, 2004. Read the original PDF.