Your Children: competing with corporations for their attention

At a friendly lunch among acquaintances discussion arose over state of the North American childhood.

·         “I used to walk to school with kids in the neighborhood.”

·         “We played in the dirt outside until it got dark.”

·         “We loved and feared our parents.”

The consensus around the table: today is much different. And before our childhoods’, things were different. Circumstances will continue to change for future generations, which begs the following question:  how might we create a safe and happy future for our grandchildren if we choose to have such influence?

One parent at the table took offense to a statement I made about how I reward my child. The gist: I give him choices. But I inform those choices.

·         “If you run around the house with slippery socks on you’ll fall and hurt yourself”

·         “If you tease the dog he might bite you”

·         “If you are disrespectful (a bad choice),  I will take your choices away”.

I’m frank with my son about simple and true concepts. In society, when we make bad choices (stealing, hurting others) we get our choices taken away – we are put in jail or disabled from our privileges by having to pay fines. We are made accountable for our actions (…well, most of the time – the concept of failed justice will have to wait until he is a bit older).

I explained to the parents at the table that when we consider material gifts as rewards, we need to choose carefully:

·         Is this a toy we will like for a long time?

·         Is this a toy that will last and not break very soon?

·         Do we really need a material gift, or is there some other kind of reward that will bring joy (like an outing, movie time, or a yummy treat)

 I explain to my child that when we acquire things, we become stewards of those things. We need to be responsible for maintaining them and for their eventual disposal.  And then I explain what disposal is: composting, recycling, or trash.

Quite plainly, trash is a bad choice. The consequences of this are illustrated quite nicely by the movie WALL-E (thank you Disney/Pixar), which my son loves. Essentially, garbage goes somewhere, and often it displaces really good things we need like trees, soil and water.

Obvious to me, the offended parent had perhaps never considered this concept for their own behavior. She countered quite firmly that the right way to reward a child is to give them choice. Give them money and a choice with what to do with it. That’s how things work in the real world.

If you are not informing the choices of your children, then what or who is? Pepsi. Toyota. Mattel…

That parent is right. We do have choice with what to do with our money… but the powerful influence corporate propaganda has is proven to drive adult consumer behavior. See the documentary “Century of the Self” below. You won’t be disappointed.

 

If you have children, you no doubt have witnessed their complete and devoted attention to the television set during commercials. It is amazing how 30 seconds of marketing plays to the attention span of a young child.

I parked at the local mall one day and my son started yelling “Eat Fresh! Eat Fresh!” He can’t read. He is 3.5 years old. But he recognized the corporate logo of Subway and the slogan that was burned into his brain.

Generally, corporations are not interested in the future of our planet. Green-washed messages might convince the naïve otherwise, but the facts are that short term profits make or break publicly traded entities (think shareholders, stocks… it’s all about making money).  And if you weren’t aware, short term profits arise from ever increasing consumerism… you know, buying and disposing material goods your children “choose” to buy.

Yes, childhood is different today. And certain aspects of that we cannot change as individuals. But we can create a future population capable of thinking and acting with accountability – inform your children, it’s what they value you for. Otherwise you will lose their respect as they turn to the guidance of the ever abundant corporate entities spending billions each year to fill that role.

From my sphere to yours, here’s to earth on a platter.

HB