Alternative Xmas (Our Kid)

[Ell]

Me little sister (by one year) has yet again surprised and impressed me. She\'s told all her mates not to buy her pressies this year but to donate the money they would have spent to a charity instead. The money she would have spent on them and others is going the same way. (I have asked to see receipts though as she has been living up Scotland for a number of years) She does have a little \'un who will be having a special time at christmas but it will not rely on him being bought a mountain of expensive tat with a shelf life of about 12 minutes. I think this is a tremendous idea. What do yous think.

Obviously I have issues with the charity thing, being a get out clause for greedy government and the money could be given directly to an armed revolutionary movement sanctioned by myself, but hey!

[Edited on 20/12/2004 by Ell]

[alan]

I\'m married with three kids Ell and its one big rip off,its a excellent idea m8.Keep telling my wife I would love to go away for christmas,just to get away from it all (I would still buy them a present),I would just like to do something different,thats one of the most original idea\'s i\'ve heard in a while though,why not !

[Ell]

Alan, you\'re right mate, I\'ve got 3 under me wing and the amount it costs to make the bottom of the tree look good is silly. For the first time in me natch it hasn\'t all gone on the card as well to be payed for for ever and ever, but there\'s gotta be better ways of celebrating december than Increasing the share price of Chad Valley and M&S

[alan]

Credit cards are so easy these days,likewise Ell I\'ve almost used cash for the lot this year apart from a couple of things I bought online ,I noticed on the news that the retailers are worried they won\'t meet there targets,bless them ! Should be plenty of sh#te in the sales then.

[bribones]

Credit cards are so easy these days

you got that bloody right,ill have mine payed off by next year just to do it all over again,problem is the ads are aimed at kids so what can you do,theres so much peer pressure and nobody wants to see there kids do without,the whole idea of xmas has gone to bollocks,its all about whos getting what and us as parents are forced to compete with your kids pals parents ,little tommys getting this and that so you have to get it so your kid doesnt look like a pillock,i try to teach my kids values but its like pitzing against the wind,i mean christ 40 quid for a ps2 game how many kids can afford that on pocket money ,no wonder theres so much crime ,ask a kid now whats xmas about,gone are the days of the nativity its all about what im getting or not as the case may be,you work all year to pitz it up the wall come december,yup theres got to be another way ??

[alan]

same subject but different !
Alot of people get into debt over holidays as well,scrimp and scrape for two weeks self catering in the Costa Packet,I work with lads and the only thing they look forward to is there two weeks holiday abroad,they would kill you for a overtime shift to put towards there holiday fund.

[mark]

you\'ve full of christmas spirit toight Ell, Goodwill to all me and all that. Got rid of me cards over the last year bar one I use for business expenses, so christmas is paid for up fron for us, except I just got bumped for nearly 5 grand so christmas is gonna be a bit lean, but with a bit of thought who cares. its not about how much you spend. Tracey, bless her has spent the last few weeks making loads of stuff for friends & family, got some bits for finns trains set from ebay (seen the price of hornby stuff in the shops ) made holly a new crack pipe so she\'ll be happy.

best present for me would be top hear george and tony (hairdressers to the worlds finest dictators) have written off third world debt.

wow, I didn\'t go Bag Humbug once there (mind you I have nearly polished off the bottle of drambuie I founs stashed under the tree already)

[Ell]

Be straight with the youngs uns. If you can say it on the forum tell it to your kids. Explain, discuss etc. Don\'t let the Advertising Whores take over your jobs as parents.

[Ell]

**** Christmas, all power to late december early jan. Doesn\'t quite have the same ring though.

[mark]

Be straight with the youngs uns. If you can say it on the forum tell it to your kids. Explain, discuss etc. Don\'t let the Advertising Whores take over your jobs as parents.

if I\'ve taught my kids owt its to be critical and analytical. The irony is i\'ve spent more years than I can remember in advertising, creating the ****e they are being brainwashed with

they hate Muckdonalds et al. Holly wanted new trainers, took her to jjb because she wanted some nike ones like her mates at school, saw the price and basically said stuff that (her descison) can we find some cheaper ones. Finn is the one who hasn\'t quite seen the light yet but he is only 6.

yet for all the kids at school wearing their designer tat, I\'m viewed as the \'cool dad\' (scary thought) as I\'m happy to build dens, play hide and seek and generally behave with all kids down there like a 12 year old

there\'s a lot more to parenting than spending money

Whats frightening is the amount of money spent on physchological research by the ad industry, tescos are the leaders in this field spending millions every year. Next time your in a supermarket, I guarantee you that the first thing you find is fruit and veg cos it makes you think everything is fresh and wonderful, walk down the isles, at eyelevel you will see all the brand naes and hi profit lines, the loss leaders and cheap stuff will always be on the bottom shelf. The loyalty card is nothing more than a method to extract data to profile buying habits and target you accordingly. The fresh baked bread smell is often an artificial aerosol!. The lighting is UV rich because subconsciously you think of sunshine, sunshine makes you happy, whe you are happy you spend more money. the list goes on and on

an advertising whore for 20 years and an internet whore for 10

[Edited on 21/12/2004 by mark]

[willywetegg]

There\'s a lot more to parenting than spending money.


You two have given me a load of things to go at BUT this will be the only one. It was my oldest sons birthday a few weeks ago, she who must be obeyed and myself walked into the bar to a \"John heres your dad\". Didn\'t give it much of a thought untill I heard \"Now things will liven up a bit\".
Treat them as humans and you will get the same back. Treat them like children for too long and that is how they will remain.The key word is I think \"Respect\".

Jim.