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From: debbiem@rruxe.UUCP (D. McBurnett)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Precocious Brand Loyalty
Message-ID: <284@rruxe.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Sep-85 23:11:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: rruxe.284
Posted: Wed Sep  4 23:11:55 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Sep-85 10:36:49 EDT
References: <365@scirtp.UUCP> <281@rruxe.UUCP>, <1837@bmcg.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 39

>> Your job as a parent is to determine what is the best use of your income.

>It is not your only job. I consider my primary job is to prepare my 
>children for life after they leave home. If my child wanted Wranglers or
>anything else for that matter and there wasn't enough money to cover the
>difference, I would explain that I would pay the price of what I would
>spend and If they wanted to cover the difference and give up something
>else to do it, then it is their choice. They learn the value of money and
>take care of it better.

Gracious, I certainly did not mean to imply that determining the
best use of your income was a parent's only job.  I also clothe my
children, feed them, etc. etc.  Your approach is an excellent one,
and one I have also used upon occasion, although my children are not
of ages where they have much in the way of discretionary income with
which to do this, and in my opinion it's inappropriate to allow a
young child the discretion to give up something he truly needs (like
a new pair of shoes to replace the ones with holes in them, so he
doesn't catch cold from wet feet) in order to "upgrade" an item.  I
was merely trying to emphasize who CONTROLS the FAMILY BUDGET.

>> Ome solution we employ to resolve this problem is to tell our kids
>> that if they want something like this that doesn't fit our normal
>> spending criteria, they can specify it on their Christmas and
>> birthday lists.  If the really want it, they'll agree to this, and
>> be happy with the gift if they get it.
>
>Kind of takes the suprise out of the gift don't ya think?

Not necessarily, since there's no guarantee that they will get it
just because it has been put on the list; but sometimes it's more
important to a child to get something he really likes than to be
surprised.  And a couple of pair of jeans don't comprise everything
that mom and dad would give junior for Christmas -- there would be
other gifts that WOULD be surprises, too.  My parents used this
approach with great success, and our children seem very happy with it.

Debbie McBurnett
rruxe!debbiem