Must Have
These days, we are bombarded from all ends with commercialism. Take chocolate for example. Verizon Wireless is just one company whose advertisements constantly prod you that “everyone wants chocolate”. In their case, it is a cell phone that is named “chocolate.” The ads are so convincing that my 8 year old spent several minutes, in the grocery store, asking me when he would be old enough to have a cell phone. He clarified this to include that he wants his cell phone to be the “chocolate” phone….or he could also have an “iPod nano”…or some other expensive device. He says that Elijah has TWO! *sigh* I doubt *that* is true. The message, however, is clear: “Must Have.”
What do we do with all of this media bombardment and the “must have” message?
It doesn’t stop there.
YaYa has a fundraiser at school to sell wrapping paper. He got his paperwork yesterday and wanted to go door-to-door selling the stuff. It is one, of only two fundraisers, that his school does. And while I want to encourage him to earn money for the many items that schools no longer receive funding for, I am a little bothered by the way the school bribes the kids into action. Like any fundraiser, I suppose, there is reward levels for the number of items that you sell, but I only wonder if the cause gets lost in doing this. Again, he is driven by the “must have” message.
Is it that important to a kid at this age? My husband posed this question to me as I tried to curb YaYa’s excitement when I went online to purchase my gift-wrap in support of both my son and his school. Perhaps not.
It’s not just YaYa; I am a victim too.
*sigh*