christmas ballsi don't know, maybe i'm just getting old, but i find myself angered by all the talk of christmas, and in particular the emphasis on "what are you getting?"
since september people have been talking about what to get the kids for christmas, and asking bethan (who is two) what she is getting from santa.
now, i have heard the gibberish talked for years about the commercialisation of christmas and putting the christ back into christmas. i am tired of listening to people shouting about councils in england putting up signs saying "happy festivities". (i think that usually prompts a "it's political correctness gone mad"). i don't particularly care about those things, anymore than i care about the commercialisation of hallowe'en.
but my daughter is two. do you have to encourage her greed, coveting, and consumerism so early in life.
honestly, she would be happy enough with one toy, so why is she taught that she needs everything in the fucking argos book?
apparently, it would be unfair and mean to limit the huge volume of toys, clothes, sweets, and novelty items that she gets to an amount that she could actually enjoy.
i think there is probably a reason why they call children who get everything they want "spoiled" or "ruined". these are not good words, and they are not something that we should wanting for our children.
it all seems very ugly and immoral to me that we are all going to get and eat so much. at the same time if we don't consume our economy might collapse and people will be out of work, so maybe there is a future in promoting shopping as a socially conscious way to act. maybe not.
i don't to be all "grumpy bastard", but i really don't think this whole thing is healthy. what's the answer - i don't know.
maybe things like present aid are the way forward. or freecycle. what do you think?
4 comments:
Last year i bought my dad a 'goat' with PresentAid ... he didnt seem to bask in the warm glow for too long.
this year it'll be socks ... (maybe for poor cold children)
gui
sorry about last comment - I pressed button too soon or something.
Anyhow - micromachines come in collections of five, is what I had meant to post.
Remember them?
See, materialism at Christmas ain't all bad.
And Sylvanian families. they were good. and they taught kids about families.
And transformers. They were excellent. They 'changed' - like Scrooge did.
And magnadoodle. You could draw 'I love my mummy and daddy' on the magnetic screen.
And tin can alley..you could shoot bad people - which is ok, even at Christmas.
And Bobba Fett figure - he was a bounty hunter in Star Warswith a red rocket on his back - he was cool.
And possibly some kind of water-based game involving pressing a button and getting rings on sticks with short blasts of air- but maybe that was just me.
And all the black cloured plastic star wars figures smelt sweet for some reason.
And Beverley Hills Cop I on TV - great credits and music.
And a Hulk which pulled a sting attached to wall which would fall down.
And MatchDay on the Spectrum 48k; not to mention Daley Thompson's decathlon.
And I got a chemistry set once or twice and enjoyed burning magnesium in my sandpit - it burns so bright - like the eyes of children at christmas time.
See - the material stuff is good. Let it in.
Commerce isn't commerce till it happens in your heart.
I'm with you beardy.
I think all the ridiculous buying for kids is more about meeting the adults' emotional needs than anything else. Mountains of expensive stuff is certainly not what makes the kids happy. Caleb's most prized possession is an info leaflet out of Elijah's baby-formula which he carries around in his pocket and takes out to look at every few minutes.
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