I didn't want to threadjack ranskimmie's thread in the Handbags & Purses subforum, but her thread started me thinking about children and material goods. I have a 3 1/2 year old son, and so far, all he ever asks me for are books, CDs, and DVDs of mostly educational shows.
But yesterday, I was reading a recent New York magazine that had a one page spread on kids' backpacks. They ranged from $47 Jansport bags to $1200 Burberry bags. I saw a Ghurka bag at $395 and thought "Wow, how nice. I'd love to get something like that for my son when he's in 3rd or 4th grade and his back is large enough to make it practicable."
Is that horrible of me? I'm not sure if he'd like something like that, but if given a choice, I know that I would probably opt for something like that for him. And I expect that neither he nor his 8 year old friends would take in the price of the bag. Their mothers probably wouldn't even either, as I'm pretty sure a backpack like that isn't even available within fifty miles of our home. Is it wrong of me to impose my tastes on him?
What if I gave him the choice, and he chose a $20 backpack that I didn't care for instead? It'd only be a fraction of the price, and he might love it, and I'd think it's tacky. Is that better?
And if he did agree with my choices, like the $395 Ghurka backpack, should we treat the purchase as something normal and uneventful, and therefore to be expected...or as something precious, and something to be treasured? By the way, I know I do and will expect my son to take excellent care of everything he owns. I do not like waste.
I'm lucky not to have faced these issues yet, but parents (and former children!)...what's the right thing? Should we set limits based on their age, no matter what our own circumstances or tastes? Or on what they would like? Or on what their friends have? I suspect I'll be having to deal with this at some point.
But yesterday, I was reading a recent New York magazine that had a one page spread on kids' backpacks. They ranged from $47 Jansport bags to $1200 Burberry bags. I saw a Ghurka bag at $395 and thought "Wow, how nice. I'd love to get something like that for my son when he's in 3rd or 4th grade and his back is large enough to make it practicable."
Is that horrible of me? I'm not sure if he'd like something like that, but if given a choice, I know that I would probably opt for something like that for him. And I expect that neither he nor his 8 year old friends would take in the price of the bag. Their mothers probably wouldn't even either, as I'm pretty sure a backpack like that isn't even available within fifty miles of our home. Is it wrong of me to impose my tastes on him?
What if I gave him the choice, and he chose a $20 backpack that I didn't care for instead? It'd only be a fraction of the price, and he might love it, and I'd think it's tacky. Is that better?
And if he did agree with my choices, like the $395 Ghurka backpack, should we treat the purchase as something normal and uneventful, and therefore to be expected...or as something precious, and something to be treasured? By the way, I know I do and will expect my son to take excellent care of everything he owns. I do not like waste.
I'm lucky not to have faced these issues yet, but parents (and former children!)...what's the right thing? Should we set limits based on their age, no matter what our own circumstances or tastes? Or on what they would like? Or on what their friends have? I suspect I'll be having to deal with this at some point.