Parents' desperate plea: No more ads for toys

"My 8-year-old is still holding out hope that Santa will get her that one special gift, but understanding this year may be different," Dower Charron said. "My son doesn't understand. Everything he sees, he wants."

And whose fault is that?  Can she not see that she's created her own monsters because she probably gives her kids everything they want?  My parents had no trouble telling me and my sibs no; they didn't have much extra money and we all knew we wouldn't have lavish Christmases like some of our friends did, but our folks made up for it with lots of love and happiness.  Parents these days have completely lost touch with reality.  They've allowed their kids to rule the roost instead of the other way around.

The solution to this quandry is quite simple really, turn off your TV...

It is time for parents to suck it up and learn to say, "No!" to their children.  Sometimes the correct answer is NO and people seem to have forgotten that.  And yes, I am a parent, and now the grandparent of a 16 month-old.  And yes, I can afford to purchase what I want, but no, I won't be afraid to tell the sweetest, cutest granddaughter in the world that she cannot always have something just because she wants it!  We have turned into a child-worshiping culture and it has to stop! I saw someone state we've turned into a "Kindergarchy" and they were so very right!  It's time for a coup d'etat! It's time for the adults to regain our power!

As a genuine antique person who raised two daughters who have successful careers and lives I have to ask, "What in the world is wrong (unenviable) with telling your eggs, we got no dinero. Set priorities." Our kids quickly grasped that we did not have all the money in the world and couldn't buy everything they thought they needed. They then learned to set priorities. They got what they really wanted. Not what they thought they wanted. Our community is full of 20, 30 and 40 year olds who have expensive homes, trucks, cars, SUVs, quads, boats and other stuff. Guess what? They're learning they can't pay for all this stuff they shouldn't have bought in the first place. Get a grip folks. Try to raise your kids in the real world. I can't imagine any circumstance in which I would have a problem telling one of my kids, "Sorry. I can't afford to buy you Rhode Island this year. Pick something reasonable." Of course I didn't mind admitting I wasn't rich.

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING!  Have we forgotton how to say no?  Our over indulgent society needs a lesson on the genius of the 1950's and before.

It's very simple.  Don't let your children watch TV.  Mine didn't and never asked for anything - even in the grocery checkout aisle.  When my son was six and we took him to see Santa, Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said he wanted to be seven.  Now that they're practically grown, they still hardly ever ask for a thing.

My solution to this problem has been to limit my children's tv and only let them watch shows we have pre recorded because we fast forward through the commercials. We have also explained to our kids that we are going through tough times and money is tight. They are not going to get everything they want this year for Christmas.

If you start when they are young its not hard later. My kids went through some very tight Christmas's and birthdays. They were taught that Santa wasn't always able to bring what they wanted and that mom and dad couldn't always buy what they wanted. They knew what no meant. I see too many people trying to hide their economic situation from their kids and wind up raising kids who later in life will be shocked to see how the real world works. You aren't doing you kids any favors raising them that way.

One of the best lessons a child can learn is the power of a firm but kindly "no."  It is a way to teach balance and restraint, that we sometimes have to say "no" to others and even to ourselves.  If the last generation would have learned that lesson, some of the problems of today wouldn't be so great.  We've had a string of years here where not enough people said "no!"

Why the guilt? Parents need to get their proirities straight and choose whether it's another useless toy or a much needed commodity such as clothes or something more practical. To helll with the toy companies and their brainwashing of children :

SUCK IT UP AND JUST SAY NO TO TOYS!

and the Scumm that don't give a damm about you or your kids!

As parents it is their job to educate their kids.Educate them in the one of many arts of being grateful in what they get,it could be worse, they could get nothing>

Is the AP trying to commit suicide? I just don't get it. I have been reading these ridiculous stories now for several weeks and I just don't get it. I imagine the reporters talking something like this:

"Hey Joe. Let's think of the dumbest story we can and then find the dumbest examples to support the story."

"Sounds great Mark!"

"Alright, let's go find some people who will whine like crazy."

I just don't get it. On one hand it seems like they are just trying to bum everyone out even more by running every negative story they can (and even put negative spins at the end of good stories), but on the other hand, the people they find for these stories and the examples they provide are hilarious. It almost is like they don't want us to take them seriously. I really don't know what the heck is going on here! I read the story about the poor lady who couldn't buy Christmas presents (right after she bought an I-pod and a $400 tv) and then the one who was fired and was barely making it (but bought an I-pod with her unemployment income). Then I read about how Black Friday is going to be really bad. Then, when it turns out to be better than last year they say it is not a good indicator of the holiday season as a whole. Would they have said this if Black Friday was bad? Not in a million years. It's like they are not even trying to hide anything anymore.

Is it really a story that parents have to tell their kids no? The bad economy made this? Seriously? So when my kid asked me for that Porshe and I had to tell him no last decade, why was that? What about the pony my daughter wants?

I'm just going to have to stop reading this garbage. It is just making me mad (although I do think it helps my heart to laugh so hard every day). This junk is hilarious. The best thing we can do for the economy is fire all the AP journalists and then hire them as comedians to make us happy. 

Don't sweat it folks.

These are the very parents who:

1. Give their little brats everything they want all the time.
2. Never punish the kid when it needs it.
3. Overly protect the child from the "evil outside world".

We all know what those kids end up being; somebodies @!$%# in the big house.

Hey, at least the parents can say they did all they could do for their poor baby... Even to the point of asking those mean old advertisers to STOP IT. I bet that got lots of laughs around the conference table

Please! Somebody shoot me so I won't have to read stories like this one!

when my children were very small i was a single mother. it was back in the early 90's. my children would want things there was no way i could afford. i told them i had to pay santa clause for their toys. they understood and that passified them. i taught them to be thankful for what they have and material things can be there one day and gone the next. they are grown now and my daughter is in her 3rd year of college well adjusted and happy. my son is also doing well in life. try to focus on being with the ones you love and do what you can and just love your kids. time is the one thing you can always give them and once its gone you can't get that back.

As an early elementary education teacher I would like to send a very serious and sincere suggestion to these unfortunate parents who are begging the greedy commercial tyrants to stop selling Christmas and their toys to the highest bidder and/or crier. Dearest  Parents, you are asking the proverbial tiger to change their stripes.  Do yourseslves and this nation a  tremendous favor and TURN OFF THE TV!!!

When my son was young (about 25 or so years ago), I was a single mom with very little money.  Every year I opened a Christmas Club account at my bank and put a few dollars a pay day into the account and usually I would have  around $200 to spend at Christmas.  During the year, I would pay attention to what he wanted the most throughout the year, things he would say would be cool to have over and over, but he knew we didn't have enough money to buy them.  I would say, "maybe Santa will bring them" if he wanted them right then.  When I got my Christmas money, I would make one trip to the toy store and bought as many of the toys on his "wish" list as possible for $100.  I put all the toys into garbage bags and hid them in the garage (I never worried about him looking in a garbage bag for Christmas toys.)  The rest of the money was spent on clothes and necessities.  A few gifts would be placed under the tree in the days preceding Christmas.  On Christmas eve, after he had gone to bed, Santa got busy wrapping each item and getting ready for Christmas morning.  One year, I spent HOURs putting together a bicycle until 2:00 a.m.!  He was almost 10 when I asked him if he still believed in Santa, and he said "Of course, I know you don't have enough money to buy all those presents."  It almost made me cry.

The moral of this story is that you can give your kids a wonderful Christmas, you just have to think about it and not buy them everything during the year.  Listen to what they say and if something is always on their list, then you know what to get for them.  Gotta love those Christmas clubs.

This year my extended family is doing a "Walton" Christmas.  Homemade or no more than $10 for a gift.  Boy is it fun to look for sales and bargains

Puh-leaze! When I was in financial straits a few years ago I said "sorry, sweetie, we just can't afford that this year." And he grew up realizing that getting a toy was a treat, something special and that we can't always get what we want (the Rolling Stones taught us that :-))  Where were these parents a year ago at this time? Were they stampeding down the aisles of Toys R Us or teaching their children well? My son learned to give away his toys even when he couldn't replenish them. We brought toys to the local children's hospital and to the Y. And, the lesson he learned? While browsing (not buying because we couldn't afford it) in a mall, he overheard a younger boy asking his mom for a Pokemon card but she said they couldn't afford it. My son reached into his pack and took out a few of his cards and handed them to the boy. That's the spirit of giving. Forget about the ads. This is a free market economy. Teach your children well.

Get a freakin life parents, I'm a parent, Its called tell your kid "no". This is one of the major problems in America today. Stupid @!$%#!  I'm a teacher and see this all the time. Get a freakin life

What about a bailout--maybe save your receipts and the gov't will reimburse you later for the toys you bought?  After all, most are made in China and China owns us...

Isn't it amazing how some adults can let their children run their lives?  We have 2 boys - now 15 and almost 12 - and the rule in our home has always been: TV only on Saturday morning and an hour or so during vacation time, and that too, programs like National Geographic, PBS etc.  Our almost 12 year old son had to write something about a popular TV show once for school and he'd never watched it.  We talked about it and he had no problem letting his teacher and his friends know that we don't watch TV in our home!!

When adults understand that we don't have to constantly live up to the Joneses, do or buy things to "fit in" with everyone else, but instead spend that time together as a family building up our childrens character and sense of self worth, we'll have happier, more secure children who learn sound financial and life lessons for themselves as they grow into adulthood and raise families of their own.

We have the means to afford all kinds of things for our kids, but they know that no amount of whining is going to get them things just because so and so has it. We give rewards and plenty of love and hugs for good behaviour, for trying hard, performance in school etc etc. A gift for their birthday and for 2 religious festival celebrations.  And these are planned for and thought out.

Last month our almost 12 year old wanted clothes from a particular brand name store as some of his friends had jeans and hoodies from there. He whined and complained and we talked about it. We took him to a regular store and showed him what we could get him that looked great but was probably  a fifth of the price.  He insisted saying he would pay for the brand name with his own money... Sure... we took him to the mall and he checked out all the prices and we told him, if he chose to spend his savings on a brand name just to look cool with his friends, that was fine by us, but it was his choice and his money... It made him think. We didnt shout, plead, or give in.... He made his choice and we ended up paying $15 for a perfectly good looking pair of jeans and $20 for a nice, cozy hoodie - from the regular store!  - and he thanked us later on for helping him understand and helping him save his money!!

Our kids need our direction, our talking to them, and being loving but firm with them.  Reading our 15 year olds essay for an English class where he had to write about 2 people who had impacted him the most in his life, was reward in itself for us... We happened across it while tidying some papers, and he's written about us, his parents as being the 2 most important influences in his life, and he had gone on to give many instances and examples of why....

This article made me want to vomit! What in the hell is wrong with this country? No wonder we are in the financial situation that we are currently in. I guess that my parents were cruel because they had no problem saying NO! And I learned at an early age that mom and dad's no was final! Another valuable lesson that I learned early on was that my parents did not have a lot of money, but they worked very hard to provide for us. I valued my parents work ethic and their dollars...all because they taught me to do so. Parents, get a backbone and if saying no is too hard, then don't have kids!

these ads have always concerned me but this year i have wondered how those with small children who are suddenly out of work  or facing rising morgage costs are going to deal with them-kudos to build a bear workshop founder for her ad for  ten dollar build a bear animals.why not advertise the more affordable durible toys-of course there are thousands whose livlihood depend on the toy industry-but the industry has known for months that problems were brewing and haven't seemed to be concerned-to those who say these are greedy children-have you seen how pursuasive and wide spread the ads are- i do not watch childrens television but i am already tired of the ads-to the answer that we have to run the ads so children will know what to ask for i say let them see catalogs or the toys themselves in stores-not the colorful music fille3d enticements on television

I couldn't agree more. As an educator with more than a sufficient number of credits in psychology, there is nothing more detrimental to the social, emotional, and intellectual maturation of a child than excessive television viewing. Delaying gratification (the "I wants and I wants it now) is just a symptom of the greater disease of television viewing. Junk food and television should be administered in the same dosage: in moderation, if at all. My children are blissfully unaware of what is out there because they have never seen live television, let alone programming with commercials.   

Allot of parents try to buy their kids love and respect, which in turn, doesn't teach their kids financial responsibility, and it also spoils them to the point of having absolutely no respect in anyone, including the parents, because they know that they will have everything they want handed to them.  Which is also one of the reason for the escalated crime rate these days.