Previously I wrote about how the winter holiday season has been over-saturated with stuff and overspending. I’ve been meaning to do a follow-up about how to combat a consumer holiday, but sorry, I got a little behind here. Life has been nuts lately. There’s still plenty of December left though and that means many chances to have a less consumer-based holiday season. Take a look at the tips below. Maybe they’ll help you have a nicer, less consumer, more family focused holiday season.

CONSUMER-FREE ESSENTIALS

Come up with a plan

The best way to combat holiday consumerism is to think things through before hand and to have a solid family focused plan in place. This is tough for a lot of us, myself included. Try discussing the issue with your family and friends early on. Talk about what sort of holiday you’d like to have, plus stuff you’ve liked or not liked about holidays past. If you need some good celebration ideas read I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas and Celebrate Green.

Start creating traditions when your kids are young

Getting older kids to convert from a stuff-based holiday to a more activity and family focused holiday is very hard. Kids raised to value stuff over people will obviously not value holiday celebrations. Encourage kids from an early age that holidays are about hanging out with family and giving over simply getting presents. It’s best to raise kids right from the start, rather than switch it up later. Keep in mind that discussing green holidays and family-based celebrations does not take away from the magic of the season.

• Kids can be savvy consumers

Convert older kids and others

If you’ve spent years celebrating gifts and stuff vs. family time, you’ll need to adjust everyone’s train of thought. Discuss how consumer-driven holidays don’t appeal anymore and discuss ways to make changes. This is one of those times that you’ll need to fess up to your child that you’ve been wrong, especially if you’ve been over-showering the holidays with gifts galore up to this point. Change can happen, but don’t expect it to happen overnight.

• Common behaviors of kids with overly consumer holiday values
• 10 best ways to raise greedy kid
• How parents and other adults can avoid commercialism

GO EXTREME

Celebrate a Buy Nothing Christmas this year.

Yup, it’s way outside the norm, but also an excellent challenge and will still be fun to boot. If this seems to extreme, at least take the 2011 Simplify the Holidays Challenge, which allows you to scale back, without scaling back entirely. Need help planning your Buy Nothing Christmas? See the following:

• Buy Nothing Christmas FREE information kit
• Buy nothing shopping catalog
• Ideas about gifts you don’t purchase

Here are some consumer holiday spending facts to ponder…

In 2010 consumers spent an estimated $648 million on Black Friday. This year, according to ComScore, consumers spent a whopping $816 million online alone, making Black Friday the heaviest spending day on the Internet so far in 2011. That’s a Black Friday sales increase of about 26% since last year.

However, all the shopping madness wasn’t over on Black Friday. Last year, Cyber Monday sales reached an all time high of $1.028 billion, and Forbes originally estimated that the current trend would hold, thus, this year’s sales would increase. Forbes was right on the money. MarketLive, Inc., the leading provider of enterprise-class eCommerce technology and services, just announced that 2011 Cyber Monday revenue increased 26 percent over last year. According to comScore, this year’s Cyber Monday was the biggest online spending day in history, with revenues of $1.25 billion in the United States.

On top of that… Consumer Reports notes that not only do shoppers spend more than they plan on these mega shopping days, but 45% of Americans who made a budget last year exceeded it and about 14.1 million adults are still carrying debt from the 2010 holiday season.

TOTAL INSANITY! 

The National Retail Federation forecasts that the average American will spend around $700+ on holiday shopping in 2011, and those figures are likely low, since every year many consumers go well over budget. In any case, this is completely unnecessary. Plus keep in mind that these statistics are regarding individuals, not families. Typically, in a family with two parents, research says they’ll BOTH spend that average $700+, so in reality many two-parent families are spending anywhere from $1,400 to $2,000 a year on Christmas. Worst of all, most of this money isn’t even going toward an eco-friendly holiday.

How much I spent in 2010

Last year, I tracked my spending carefully, and I spent about $250 on everything Christmas related, including gifts, food, decor and everything else. Keep in mind that except for one item (Legos), all the gifts I gave were eco-friendly too, so the whole idea of having to spend more for a green holiday is bunk. Had I gotten my act together and made some homemade gifts, I’d have spent even less. This year, my goal is to have a fun holiday while spending even less $.

This isn’t about hating on Christmas

This isn’t about being a Grinch and killing Christmas dreams. I like Christmas as much as anyone. However, I don’t like how it’s become so commercial, so stuff oriented and less about family celebrations.  I’m also not advocating a perfectly stuff-free Christmas. Gifts are nice, it’s all the excessive behavior that gets me. I think consumer holidays are especially detrimental to kids and I also think you can have both gifts and family time without all the super greedy consumerism issues.

* 50 ideas about how to have a nicer, less consumer, more family focused Christmas (coming soon)

Lead image via Flickr user jbhthescots

Consumer-driven holidays and kids who are more concerned with stuff than other people seem to have become more commonplace in recent years. Research shows that I’m not the only one bothered by such behavior either. Many surveys show that a large majority of people think that more kids in general, or their own kids in particular, act too spoiled and materialistic.

That said, I think consumerism + kids is an important issue to share facts about, especially for parents interested in raising kids who value more than  stuff. So, here are some facts about the growing problem of materialistic behavior in kids.

Photo © Flickr user James Ellsworth

Kids are getting more selfish and becoming compulsive consumers

You may not like it, or want to admit that materialistic, spoiled kids are a problem, but research shows that this is a very real and growing problem, both here in the U.S. and elsewhere.

• National surveys show most parents feel like they’re raising overly selfish kids. 80% of respondents in a recent AOL/Time Warner poll said kids in America are more spoiled than kids of ten or fifteen years ago, while 2/3 of all parents admitted that their kids are indeed too spoiled. 

• A study in the spring of 2007 reported an increase of narcissism (caring much more about oneself than others) of 30% over the past twenty years.

• According to a national survey commissioned by the Center for a New American Dream, American children aged 12 to 17 will ask their parents for products they have seen advertised an average of nine times until the parents finally give in, with 55% of kids saying their parents will eventually give in. Worse, among 12- to 13-year-olds, 62% say that buying certain products makes them feel better about themselves.

• University of Arizona marketing researcher Lan Nguyen Chaplin notes that adolescents today have been characterized as the most materialistic generation in history.

• When Dan Kindlon, author of Too Much of a Good Thing, interviewed more than 1,000 parents, and roughly 650 teenagers, he found that 60% of parents thought their kids were spoiled, and 15% of the teens themselves said they were spoiled.

• A survey by the Millward Brown global market research agency shows that 8- to 12-year-olds in America are more materialistic than anywhere else in the world. 75 % desire to be “rich,” and kids here in the U.S. are more likely to believe that their clothes and brands describe who they are and define their social status.

• Commercial Free Childhood notes that a national survey by Consumer Focus found that 63% of parents believed that their children define their self-worth in terms of what they own.

• Commercial Free Childhood also notes that over half of children surveyed say they would be happier if they had more money to buy more things for themselves. Nearly that many say the only kind of job they want when they grow up is one that pays a lot.

• Parents are more and more frequently basing their worth as parents on the stuff they can afford to buy vs.the lessons and time they impart. For example, a major UNICEF study shows that many parents have trapped themselves, and their children in a cycle of “compulsive consumerism.” As another, fairly horrifying example, here’s one mother’s account of how, although she earns fair wages and owns two homes, she’s super worried about being able to afford the luxury holiday her kids deserve. This mom goes on to wish that she could do things differently, and have a less-stuffed based holiday but worries that her kids can’t handle less gifts at Christmas and won’t like her anymore if she fails to buy plenty of gifts.

• Research shows that kids under 14 years of age spend about $40 billion annually on material goods, while teens spend about $159 billion a year – most of it, their parents money.

What’s wrong with kids who are materialistic?

It’s the American dream to want more right. If that’s true, then what’s so wrong with being materialistic and having lots of stuff? A lot as it turns out.

• Researchers on a major study about selfishness noted that narcissistic individuals are more likely to be overcontrolling and exhibit violent behaviors and dishonesty than less narcissistic folks. Research also shows that materialistic kids are less happy, more prone to depression, have lower self-esteem and report more symptoms of anxiety.

• Kids who are overly materialistic tend to engage in fewer positive environmental behaviors such as reusing paper, and using less water while showering.

• During one study, researchers presented kids with a pretend windfall of cash.  The more materialistic children exhibited less generosity and said they’d allocate less money to charity than kids less concerned with stuff.

• Lastly, plenty of research shows that selfish, consumer-driven kids cause family stress, sibling stress and parental stress.

Plus there’s behavioral issues

As George Cohen, MD, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on the psychosocial aspects of child and family health, points out, “What’s spoiled for one parent may not be for another.” However, there are clearly some recognizable poor behaviors associated with overly consumer-minded kids.

Below are some behaviors of materialistic kids that I’ve noticed, plus some selfishness traits that researchers and other parents on the web have pointed out…

• Making huge wish-lists of gifts for holiday events that aren’t negotiable.
• Buying stuff impulsively without giving purchases any thought.
• Placing value on what things cost, not the thought of the gift.
• Breaking or loosing stuff they own without regret.
• Zero expectations of having to help cover the costs of new items.
• Nagging parents over and over about specific products.
• Not willing to help out without being paid or bribed – say with chores.
• Stealing – studies show stealing is much more common among selfish kids than other kids.
• Not saying thank you when they receive a gift.
• Getting angry when things don’t go their way.
• Lack of respect for parents, family, friends and so on, unless they’re out to get something.
• Not getting others gifts of their own accord – having to be nagged to give.
• Often acts jealous of what others have.
• Acting entitled to everything they want and not acting gracious.
• Low self-esteem or placing worth on stuff they own.
• Saying stuff like, “Is that all I get?” or “How come so and so got more presents than I did?“
• Complaining about the gifts they get behind someone’s back or literally to their face.
• Making fun of people who get them, “shoddy gifts” or “cheap gifts.“
• Not spending time with others on holidays other than to collect gifts.
• Putting their own needs before others at most or all times.
• Disinterest in any holiday event than involves activity or family time.
• Having a disposable mentality – i.e. so what if stuff breaks, you can always get more.

This affects how kids are treated by others too

No one wants to be around a kid who acts this way. Behavior like this is especially frustrating around the holidays, but can be annoying year-round too. A poor outcome of allowing a kid to act like this is that their behaviors do keep others at a distance. Additonally, if a child is raised in such a way that consumerism and selfish behaviors are okay, they may believe these traits are perfectly fine for the rest of their life.

This is a huge disadvantage to your kids

Some parents think that they’re helping their kids by giving them a million gifts and fulfilling their every holiday or life whim. But these aren’t good parenting practices.

• How to raise a greedy child

Holidays are supposed to be magical and fun. When you allow holidays to become all about stuff and greed they’re no longer magical, surprising or fun for anyone.

Seriously, what’s the point of all this stuff? Excess stuff simply 100% hardens kids against any sort of real holiday or life meaning beyond having more, more, more. Kid who fail to see meaning in family or celebration beyond what they can get, will likely pass these traits on to their own future children, thus ensuring that a nice cycle of commercial, consumerism driven behavior will continue.

Coming up I’ll have some tips about how have a less consumer driven holiday (and life). For now, if you need tips about how to stop this sort of madness, read the following:

• Green Consumer Tips for Kids & Teens!
• Parents need to avoid commercialism along with kids
• Commercialism Makes Growing Green Kids Harder
• The Greedy Kid Cure
• Can you cure your kids’ ‘gimmes’?
• Teaching children to be grateful and generous
• Experts tell parents how to decode the spoiled child
• Making the Holidays Less Materialistic
• Selfishness in Children – plus a quiz to see how your child stacks up
• Attitude Makeover: Selfish

I’m working on an ongoing series here about how to save money by going green – “Live green and save $50,000 in five years“. The point of this series is to find out if the average family of four can save $50,000 in five years, simply by initiating green practices into their lifestyle.

However, it’s been tough going tracking these costs. So, I figured I’d do a little round-up post and keep it updated here. If you want to follow along, bookmark this post so you can return as the savings add up. Don’t forget, if you have more or less than four family members, savings will vary.

How to save $50,000 in five years by going green

• Save $3,360 by using cloth diapers
• Save $835 per kid by using to reusable baby wipes
• Save $1,612 by using homemade green cleaners
• Save $2,960 by having a less consumer Christmas
• Save $1,000 by ditching paper towels
• Save $1,354 by using cloth napkins
• Save $6,000 by switching to reusable water bottles

TOTAL SAVINGS SO FAR: $17,121.00

$ left to save: $32,879

If you’ve got any questions or comments about this series, or if you have a green practice you’d like me to consider, leave a comment below.

So, yesterday I grab the mail, start sorting it and notice a huge Fred Meyer flier.  Fred Meyer is our local Kroger store here in PDX and we shop there often. Here’s the flier below…

The flier states:

“What’s the easiest way to enjoy all natural and organic? Keep it Simple. Naturally Preferred and Private Selection Organic are switching to Simple Truth. So now you can look for one name when picking up your favorite all-natural and organic products. It’s just that simple.“

Really Kroger? Does this seem like an awesome idea?

NO. As soon as I saw the flier my first thought was, “Way to confuse everyone.” In fact, here’s a timely example. We almost always buy organic eggs. Now, I won’t buy factory farmed store-brand milk, but we do usually buy Kroger store brand certified organic eggs, because they cost less than other organic eggs.

Anyhow, Dave (the live-in boyfriend), went to the store the other day for groceries, including eggs, and he came home with these:

At first glace, I figured Kroger changed their organic packaging. At second glance, I noticed the eggs were in fact NOT organic, but “natural.” So I ask Dave about it and he says, “OMG I got them in the natural section right by the other organic eggs, where we always get them.” When discussed further, it turns out that Dave meant to get organic as per usual, but failed due to the new confusing packaging. It’s hard to blame him though.

Example of new confusing packaging:

As you can see, the new organic and natural packaging choices are almost 100% interchangeable. Plus ALL their organic and Naturally Preferred products are making the switch so everything will look identical. If you know to look for the USDA Organic Seal, you’ll do better with this new packaging. Of course Kroger did decide to use little green circles on their natural packaging too – little green circles that look like an organic seal if you look fast – which seems like blatant greenwashing to me.

Their wording on their flier is also super misleading. For example, they note, “What’s the easiest way to enjoy all natural and organic?” and “Look for one name when picking up your favorite all-natural and organic products.” Notice how they’ve used “all natural” and “organic” in one fast swoop, twice, making it seem as if the terms are one and the same?

First of all, in case you didn’t know, the USDA does not recognize the term or label “natural” as an official term. Although natural is a hot buzz word right now, it’s almost entirely meaningless. The term is completely unregulated and natural isn’t so natural because many so called natural products contain synthetic ingredients.

• Learn more about the definition of “natural.”

“Organic” on the other hand is a regulated term. If a product carries the organic seal, no that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, however, you are getting a product with fewer pesticides and zero artificial colors or flavors. Plus, you’re supporting planet-healthy agriculture.

• When is organic really organic?

Why the switch?

I’m not sure to what end Kroger decided that this change would be useful to their customers. It honestly seems to me as if they’re intentionally trying to trick people into buying natural over organic. That makes no sense. Not only is organic safer for people, but it costs more, which should make Kroger more $. The only thing I can think of is that Kroger is merging out their organic grocery choices – which also makes zero sense. 

On one hand, Kroger may not confuse as many people as I’m guessing. A recent survey shows that consumers don’t trust “natural” food labels. On the flip side though, other past research has shown that many consumer are already confused by all the food labels out there, so the odds of getting real organics over non-organics becomes sketchy.

In any case, I’m extremely annoyed with this change. I’m not on board with any labeling plan that makes it harder for consumers to navigate already crazy confusing food labeling issues. If you’re annoyed too, below is a post that may help.

• Go organic without going insane – tips to make the organic transition easier

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is celebrating it’s 25th year this October. That’s cool, and it’s great, obviously, to support such a worthwhile cause.

That said, make sure your money and time are used to help find a cure, vs.  simply stuffing the pockets of pinkwashing companies. Many companies launch pink products galore during October, but a lot of these products are not eco-friendly and worse, many pink products are directly connected as being contributing risk factors for breast cancer.

From BPA in bottled water to chemical cosmetics to processed foods, there are plenty of pink products you shouldn’t spend your hard-earned cash on.

To learn more, read: Are pink products making you and the planet sick?

On my post the other day about insulated lunch bags, reader Sabrina left an interesting comment. She said, “I have a concern about all of these products using PET. Doesn’t it contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals?” She then referred me to a link at Healthy Child Healthy World that digs into the issue of whether or not PET bottles are releasing endocrine disruptors.

The research on how PET may leach various phthalates is in the early stages and is inconclusive, but that’s beside the point. What Sabrina actually got me thinking about is safety vs. green living, and how they don’t always go hand-in-hand.

Sometimes better safety and green living co-exist easily. Take green cleaning products. Not only is it safer to make homemade cleaners because you cut out chemicals that can hurt your kids, but it’s eco-friendly as well. Homemade green cleaners are green because they cut down on massive amounts of packaging and don’t release harmful toxins into our air, soil or water.

Not everything is so cut and dry though. For example…

Child car seats are basically big hunks of plastic. Plastic, as we all know, is made with non-renewable oil. Additionally, I’ve never seen even one car seat (as of yet)  made with organic fabrics and few are made with child-safe dyes. Car seats are about as opposite of eco-friendly as you can get. Yet, obviously car seats are 100% safer than tying your baby down with a nice recycled box and some organic hemp rope – know what I mean?

Or take the lunch bag situation I mention above. Plastic coated lunch bags, vinyl, recycled plastic and other materials may contain more chemicals than an old fashioned organic cotton lunch sack, making them less green. But on the flip side, if you’re talking safety, organic cotton is a horrid insulator. Even with an ice pack melting all over your organic bag, you’re going to run into food safety issues, because clearly the bag lacks insulation.

We could even bring ice pop molds into the mix. You’ve got silicone molds, which I’m a fan of, but some people think aren’t safe. Or you could go with plastic molds, that may contain chemicals, but they will massively reduce your household waste over packaged ice pops. Do you go with the plastic ice pop molds to avoid waste or say to heck with it and buy the packaged ice pops?

I’ve owned lots of items that aren’t eco-friendly, but that are necessary. For example, my son’s two car seats, child safety products like door latches and non-eco-friendly band-aids (because good luck finding the greener kind at your local store). We’ve owned bike helmets and non-organic sports safety gear (like pads and such) and non-eco backpacks because the less eco one fit my son better.

Overall, it can be a little bit of a mess if you live in today’s world and you’re striving to be safe and green. You can’t always choose both.

What to do? 

I can only speak for myself, but I try not to dwell too much on what I’m doing wrong in the world of green. That’s a recipe for mental anguish that I don’t need. If we need something for safety reasons, and it’s not available in an eco-friendly version, I’ll still bring it into my house if it’s necessary.

Sometimes I feel guilty sure, but then I remind myself that we haven’t brought a grocery store plastic bag or roll of paper towels into this house in years and years. We always use reusable water bottles and we drink plain old tap water vs. using bottled or a plastic, non-recyclable filter. We don’t buy a bunch of consumer junk we don’t need and we  buy used before new when we can. We use green cleaners and PVC-free shower curtains and glass dishes over plastic. I don’t have the greenest car on the market, but I did get the most efficient I could and I keep driving to a minimum. If we can’t afford the greenest sunscreen – well, we do the best we can.

It’s the green actions you DO manage that make the biggest impact. Little things add up. In the end, I want safe and I want green. If I can only have safety, I deal with it and hopefully make green amends in another area of my world.

What do you think? Is it hard to choose between safe vs. green at times? Tell me in the comments and take the poll below…

]]> http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/greenliving-vs-safety/feed/ 1 http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/take-action-against-gmo-contamination/ http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/take-action-against-gmo-contamination/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 03:51:17 +0000 Jennifer Chait http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/?p=7402

So, as you may have noticed I’ve been massively absent. There’s no great reason, it’s just been one of those insanely complicated months thus far. Drama at home (nothing major, just annoying stuff) and work has been nutty. However, I’m back and have an action tip to kick off my return.

A post by Organic Valley notes:

“This Thursday, Secretary Vilsack of the USDA has been called to testify to the House of Representatives to explain why his department has not yet deregulated Roundup Ready Alfalfa for unrestricted use.  Roundup Ready Alfalfa is a GMO (genetically modified organism) which can be sprayed with Roundup (a potent herbicide) and not die.  The alfalfa is then harvested and is a main component of conventional (not organic) cows’ diets.”

Now in case you’re not GMO savvy (no worries, it’s a big issue) here are some points to consider:

• GMO sprayed crops like alfalfa, corn and soybeans don’t stay in their own fields. Organic farmers, along with organic consumers have to deal with pesticide drift and other contamination problems. For example, when a crop is sprayed, those pesticides can drift to a nearby field, affecting organic crops. This can harm organic farmers because if pesticide residue is found on their crops, retailers and consumers may turn away from purchases. Right now, organic farmers are carrying the entire burden of preventing contamination. Solutions are needed that one, hold biotechnology companies at least somewhat responsible and two, that allow organic and non-GMO agriculture to thrive without GMO pollution.

• GMO crops are not proven safe yet so consumers should have the final say on what they’re buying. However, the government doesn’t want to label GMOs because they don’t feel consumers have the right to know what they’re eating.

• GMOs, as noted above have not been studied enough. No one knows the long-term consequences of growing and eating genetically modified foods, although current researchers suspect that allergic reactions, the creation of new allergies, gene mutation, antibiotic resistance, loss of nutrition and damage to the environment may be the risks. Additionally consider that once you mess with genes, that gene pollution can’t be fixed.

• It’s estimated that 70% of all processed food at your supermarket contain genetically modified ingredients; not that you’d know, because there’s no labeling required.

• As usual, when it comes to health issues, GMO problems make Americans look lame and behind in the times. Already the European Union, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and many other nations require mandatory GMO labeling. Not the USA though. Go us!

• Spraying may have dire consequences for agriculture (pdf) according to some research. Problems may include infertile soil, spoiled crops and plants that are diseased and/or less nutritious.

• GE crops aren’t even useful!

WHY TAKE ACTION?:

Organic Valley notes that Secretary Vilsack has acted wisely (although I think they’re being a bit too generous with the word “wise”), having reviewed the potential environmental and economic impacts of Roundup Ready Alfalfa on all sectors of the agricultural market, including organic and conventional non-GMO markets. Plus, Vilsack has called together various leaders of the different sectors to open up a conversation that may help find a solution that would allow organic and conventional/non-GMO agriculture to coexist with the inevitable sale and planting of Roundup Ready Alfalfa.

Fast forward and some members of Congress aren’t thrilled that this conversation is even happening. These folks think that complete deregulation of Roundup Ready Alfalfa should be allowed right away, with no thought given to non-GMO markets or consumers.

HOW TO TAKE ACTION:

Organic Valley offers this suggestion: Call today and ask your Congressperson to do two things:

1. Call House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and express support for the wise actions of Secretary Vilsack.

2. Support the coexistence conversations and find solutions that protect organic and non-GMO farmers and markets.

You can also…

• Send Secretary Vilsack a letter about why he needs to stand up for America’s organic farmers and consumers and ban genetically modified alfalfa permanently.
• Tell the top 6 US food retailers in the USA that you want GMOs & factory farm products labeled.
• Tell the FDA to regulate genetically engineered foods
• Boycott Kellogg’s
• Tell American Crystal that you will avoid GE sugar by boycotting all non-organic brands that don’t assure consumers that their sugar is GMO-free.

Other good reads:

• How to afford organics – right now, certified organics are not allowed to contain genetically modified junk, so go organic to avoid GMOs.
• For more about GE issues, I’d watch Food, Inc.
• GMO basics.
• The non-GMO shopping guide.
• Movies to Inspire You to Boycott GMOs
• 10 Things Monsanto Does Not Want You to Know (pdf)
• Learn more about genetic engineering at Sustainable Table.

This Happy Meal nonsense is never ending, or so it seems. Earlier this week, a mom, Monet Parham, along with help from an agency I used to respect, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), filed a class action lawsuit at McDonald’s in order to stop them from marketing unhealthy food to kids via toys.

On the opposition are quite a few people, including Sarah Palin, someone I normally disagree with. Palin has been frequently quoted as saying that parents, not the government should be responsible for allowing, or not allowing their kids to eat fast food. I agree. When it comes to banning toxic chemicals found in everything, including basics, like canned foods and baby sippy cups, well good. That’s a smart ban to support, but fast food is easy to stay clear of without a ban.

I’m agreeing with Palin and disagreeing CSPI… is there a new world order?

To be fair, I do still like some of the work that CPSI is doing. Still, I’m utterly floored that they’d go here – targeting fast food because parents can’t parent and making a parent look stupid in the process. Honestly, this lawsuit makes Parham looks completely inapt at this parenting gig, especially when you read this statement she made:

“I am concerned about the health of my children and feel that McDonald’s should be a very limited part of their diet and their childhood experience… But as other busy, working moms and dads know, we have to say ‘no’ to our young children so many times, and McDonald’s makes that so much harder to do. I object to the fact that McDonald’s is getting into my kids’ heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat.”

Wow. The lawsuit itself (pdf) is also ridiculous, stating things like:

• McDonald’s exploits very young California children and harms their health by advertising unhealthy Happy Meals with toys directly to them.
  

• The United States Supreme Court noted this year that children “have lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility; they are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure; and their characters are not as well formed.”

• Internal McDonald’s documents say that “[r]esearch shows when families with kids visit McDonald’s, the kids alone decide on McDonald’s in 53% of the cases …[o]n all, they [children] influence 95% of family visits to McDonald’s.” McDonald’s thus affirmatively and knowingly targets the most vulnerable class of consumers, very young children, in order to insidiously and deceptively access parents’ wallets.“

Well, here’s what I’m going to put out there…

Are kids really as dumb as this lawsuit suggests? Probably not. Especially not if you raise your child how YOU not the establishment wants to raise said child. The lawsuit states “Children eight years old and younger do not have the cognitive skills and the developmental maturity to understand the persuasive intent of marketing and advertising.” Okay, that’s likely true, children under eight may not get marketing. However, I’d argue that neither do many adults. Also, this is part of what parents are here for – to explain to their child what’s going on in advertisements.

If your child really influences you by 95% to visit a non-healthy, calorie loaded, gross tasting food establishment, vs. you cooking at home, or eating somewhere better, then whose fault is that? The kid’s fault? Mc Donald’s fault? NO it’s your fault as the parent.

Here’s how I know I’m right…

I have a nine-year-old. He’s smack at this peer pressure age noted in the lawsuit. We don’t have cable TV at my house, but he sees commercials at his dad’s house. He hears about new toys targeted at kids from his friends. Does Cedar ever want plastic crap, non-organic junk food and other commercial nonsense? Heck yeah he does. He sings Pillow Pet commercials, asks for stupid little plastic toys and I distinctively remember him asking for, at one point,  some sugary gross cereal straws he saw on a commercial. This is a child, who at the age of five or so asked for life insurance, simply because he saw it in a commercial.

Commercials and marketing affect my son just like they affect every other kid. He’s not magically protected from commercialism because I’ve got some eco-values.

So what to do???

I say no. AND more importantly, “No” is not the end of the conversation. I offer him other, greener, healthier ideas to choose from.

We discuss the environmental impact of cheap toys. We talk about the health and eco issues regarding organics in depth. Am I a total miser? No. Cedar gets the occasional pack of Skittles, although he’s now as likely to ask for Fair Trade candy. He gets a box of Legos, because he uses them to death, and in my opinion he gives up a lot to keep it green already without having to give up everything. We look for eco-alternatives to the lame Pillow Pets and Cedar ends up learning how to make a smarter shopping eco-decision.

He’s only nine, but having been raised this way he chooses organics at the store with zero prompting. He asks for veggies before cake. He does not ask over and over for cheap toys. He’s willing to celebrate a less commercial, homemade Christmas. He doesn’t ask for Happy Meals, because, as he says, “They taste bad” – so no, the toys there don’t lure him in. He thinks about purchases and lets many bad choices go, even though, as a kid in a commercial culture, he’s surrounded by this stuff.

My son is not perfect – we’re all somewhat lured by commercials – but he most assuredly has the capacity to think things through and uses that capacity often.

If peer pressure and commercials really influence our kids as much as this lawsuit states, then why don’t we also target schools, which are filled with peer pressure? Why don’t we ban all TV and movies? Get rid of video games and soda and chips at the store, oh and candy, which is truly marketed at kids non-stop? Stop the presses on the freaking Twilight and Harry Potter books?

We don’t do any of the above; and why not? Because while we are lured by consumer issues and commercials, we also can say no. Or we can say yes once in a while if we like and learn to make better decisions the rest of the time.

Some people like the argument of corporate responsibility. As in McDonald’s should be held accountable for corporate responsibility, hence the lawsuit. Well, yes, it’d be amazing if everyone upheld perfect corporate responsibility, but that’s just not a reality. There are plenty of shady products and companies out there. Many toxic companies and even the government isn’t looking out for your best interests. You can support them or not. Vote for them or not. That’s a choice. You need to get educated about these health and eco-issues to protect your family, because trust me, no one else is going to protect your family better than you can.

At my house, although they’re the norm, we say no to…

• Toxic cleaners.
• School.
• Non-eco-friendly toys (most of the time).
• Paper towels.
• Conventional food.
• Cable TV.
• And yes, Happy Meals. I can’t remember the last time I was even at a McDonalds, yet there are three within eight minutes of my house.

We say no, or hey, let’s get something else, to a lot of things that most people think are necessary. You can say no as well, zero lawsuits required.

I see a lot of greedy stuff-obsessed kids this time of year. Well, to be fair, I see greedy consumer-driven adults too. But the kids make me more depressed. In any case, this always makes me think that maybe people like and want consumer driven kids around. If you’re thinking, “Yeah I sure do” then here are some tips to get you started.

1. Make the holidays all about buying stuff

Forget family time and fun activities. The holidays should be ALL about stuff. The more stuff the better. Also, make sure they know that it’s not just more stuff, but the cost of stuff that counts. Cheap gifts are super lame. Encourage your kids to make long expensive wish lists early and then be sure to get everything on the list. Allow your child to make fun of people who get your child something not included on the list (i.e. a dumb present). I shudder to think what your kid should do if someone gives them a homemade gift.

2. Spend more time making money

If you can’t afford to buy your kid all the stuff on his holiday or life wish lists, duh, work more hours so you can. Kids don’t need time with parents. They do, however, need a bigger TV and the latest iPhone products.

3. Upgrade incessantly

It’s really dumb for your kid to own last year’s cell phone.  If a newer, better version comes out, upgrade immediately, even if the older product still works, so your kid will be in the loop.

4. Don’t encourage common niceness

Niceness is fairly overrated. Saying “thank you” or “please” is so unnecessary – your kid deserves gifts just because.

5. Encourage life goals based on money making

Kids should go to college and learn new things so they can make lots and lots of money. Encourage them to get through school with decent grades in order to do so. Don’t encourage kids to forge a happy path in life if it pays less – that would be really dumb.

6. Money matters are for adults only

Treat money like porn and alcohol – i.e. not for kids. Kids are too stupid to understand budgets, checkbooks and bills. If you discuss these issues with kids, you’ll probably just confuse them. Allow them to keep thinking money really does grow on trees.

7. Celebrate stuff

Celebrate holiday events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These events build important skills in children like fighting off other consumers for stuff, standing in lines vs. hanging with family members and impulse purchasing.

8. Always reward with stuff

If your kid helps out around the house give them stuff. If they get good grades – give them stuff! If they do something nice, make sure they know that it should be rewarded with more stuff. If your kids whines and begs, this is the best time to give them stuff, because it helps to teach them how to manipulate even more stuff.

9. Be very brand-conscious 

If you don’t teach kids early on to love brand names they might grow up and shop at thrift stores, or worse, garage sales (egad). Is this really what you want for your child? If your child runs into advertising, don’t discuss it with them, other than to agree with said advertising. Remember how kids are too dumb to understand money matters (see 6 above), well, kids are also way too stupid to understand that not all commercials are honest. Just let them believe – that’s the magic of childhood!

10. Encourage a disposable lifestyle

Drive home the fact that more stuff is a god-given right. If your child breaks something, replace it right away with your own money – they’re just kids, they should know that stuff is 100% replaceable. Product care and maintenance is only for older, wiser people. Teach them that fast and disposable is the way to go. For example – teach your kids that reusable water bottles are for wimps and damn hippies, fast food is king (easy and commercial driven) and be sure to hide landfill information from them – it’s not like you want to scare them. A good motto is to teach your kids that there’s always more stuff, and when it’s used up, it simply goes away magically!

BONUS POINTS if you can be super consumer-driven yourself

Most importantly - parents can make a big impact. If you get new stuff all the time to be like your friends and neighbors, your kids will catch on. Money and stuff should matter more than just about anything in your house – if not, you need to shape up!