I'm not feeding my Children quality food.

What I meant to say is... food for the soul / spirit.

I happened to notice what my seven year old son was watching last night on TV, and I got to thinking... Are we keeping our children up to date on how they might be experiencing some tough times in the future.

Are they going to learn how to appreciate the basic needs in life... Food, Water, Shelter, AC, Electricity, Love, Prayer,... or are we going to continue to spoil them to keep the economy rolling along?

First off... Let me post the commercial that caught my attention....



Now I don't necessarily have a problem with this advertisement... I just kind of have a problem with my son watching this.

I want to feed my children the right kind of food... Giving, Care taking, and helping people out instead of trying to fit in some popular social click and keeping up with the latest fashions. And I certainly don't want him to become materialistic, which has become a huge problem in the USA... especially in my city.

Not only that... I want my children to start appreciating the fine things they have right now, and learn that these luxuries might not be available to them in the future... That there could be some tough times around the corner.

I don't know... It's a double edge sword... You want your children to be happy, but you don't want to spoil them and feed them the wrong messages about life. I'm going to make an effort to get out of the house more, less TV, and spend time showing him that life isn't always as pretty as it seems

Where are the parents of ATS? Has the economy effected your children yet?

I don't understand the world anymore and im only in my mid 20's i bet Rupert Murdoch over at news corp is getting a kick out of this. " yes yeas exactly as planned muahhahah"

p.o.s.

Originally posted by Doomsday 2029
I'm going to make an effort to get out of the house more, less TV

Sounds like a good solution.

However, let kids be kids. It's a balance imo.

reply to post by YourForever



My son is half-Mexican

he spent a good six months of his life in Mexico...

The Children their are different. They have real culture.

What kind of culture do we have in America?



Sure... let kids be kids, but we got start paying closer attention to the way they are being programed by our society.

And my main point was that a lot of (spoiled) children are going to be in for a rude awakening if we do enter a Depression.




[edit on 18-2-2009 by Doomsday 2029]

Kind of reminds me of an old anecdote my father use to tell:

Two submarine commanders, one US and one Brittish, are having dinner after a combined naval exercise.

The brit, as snug as ever, asks the American:
"-Do you know the difference between the USA and a yoghurt?"

The American officer raises an eyebrow and replies:

"-No...?"

The brit says:

"-The yoghurt has a living culture!"

[edit on 18-2-2009 by Raud]

reply to post by Doomsday 2029


Hi DD. You really poured your heart out there. My kids are teenagers; I know where you're coming from.

There's a great deal I could say, but in the end it largely comes down to what you believe is healthy for your kids. I can only share the approach I took, you'll have to decide whether it speaks to your situation.

This is not a recipe for Utopia. Just my take on providing a healthier environment for our children.

Here goes. I believe the box has become a propaganda machine. The content is in the hands of those who are far more concerned about making money from you and your kids than whether what they portray is actually 'wholesome' & ultimately beneficial. If anything is beneficial it's only because it happens to attract an audience big enough to make it commercially viable - i.e. they can advertise during it.

Don't get me started on marketing & advertising. They more & more go for the lowest common denominator, utilizing the viewers' basest instincts to further their aims. And if they can induce avarice, they've got what they wanted.

As for the news, it's often so biased or on a leash it portrays a very skewed picture of reality.

As for the whole 'pop' culture, it's 'eat, drink & be merry for tomorrow we die'. Not only is it not concerned with family values, it thrives on undermining them. Superficiality, egotism, hedonism & even a self-destructive attitude to life are very much part & parcel. Women as sex objects, men as temporary users. The music might be great, but listen to the words. They don't often strike you as written by loving parents genuinely concerned about the welfare of young people...

So how do we strike a balance between not molly-coddling our kids, being over-protective, and providing a healthy environment? That's for each of us to decide. But all too often the default position is laissez-faire - and look where it's got us. As the search for thrills & spills goes on (as if that were all there is to life) alcohol & substance abuse is for many a logical conclusion.

And I haven't even really got started on materialism...

Some will read what I've said & see moralizing. I care not. I care for my children.

My approach? DUMP the box. You want them to maximize their potential for creativity, and tend more towards a consideration of others' needs? Get rid of the propaganda machine. It doesn't love your kids. Yet it fills their heads with whatever it wants.

They want information? Let them go find it. Read a book. (Shock horror.) Use the computer, in reasonable measure. Surf the net (accompanied if need be) - at least it's not entirely passive. And, as much as possible, experience the real world for themselves.

Half the kids today don't even know there's a world out there to be explored. Parks, fields & forests, friends & family.

Here's the paradox: they'll enjoy their childhood. Exploration, adventure, real people, real experiences. Dare I say it - healthier human beings. In every sense.

They'll grow up with less of an expectation that the 'ideal' standard of living constantly portrayed on the box is what everyone should expect. Or that they ought to work themselves to death to achieve this 'paradise'. (Which in turn perpetuates the cycle of neglected parent-child relationships.)

In fact they might even mature to see life in terms of people being more important than material wealth. Not caring what the Jones's have. 'They've got an SUV? We've got deep friendships, relationships, and an appreciation of and satisfaction from all the best things in life.'

(They're all free.)

As for the music industry, it's pretty much all-pervading. So I talk to my kids about thinking what the words are trying to push on them.

Do we want quality children, or a quality standard of living? Hopefully both. But if push comes to shove, let's prioritize the former.

The current economic climate is not to be sniffed at. Joblessness and loss of hard-earned cash are having a devastating impact. Many have and will become anxious and depressed. But if our kids are healthy they will know there is much more to life than material circumstances, and they'll be better able to cope with the hardship than those who define themselves by what they own.

I believe the current crisis is particularly devastating because it is the result of people spending their lives working hard to provide for their families, only to see faceless speculators and politicians fritter it away through incompetence, carelessness, negligence or worse.

Family and other relationships will be more important than ever. Dare I say it, people might even begin to appreciate the benefits of real community.

Let's point our kids in that direction.



[edit on 18/2/09 by pause4thought]

reply to post by Doomsday 2029


Git rid of cable, get your kid a library card. Its not hard it just takes constant vigilance. You need to practice what you preach too.

It is hard. To practice what you preach, takes alot of hard work.

My two boys have never had TV in their life. They watch movies and we read books and play alot using our imagination.

I made the mistake of getting them hooked on "The Justice League" at an early age. The Justice League Unlimited was not good for their minds to watch. Alot of things in their about Aliens, and the 3 year old finally told me he didn't like them.


Sooo, I got on Amazon and bought the Old Superfriends cartoons on DVD.

Way better for them. Talks about sharing, arts and crafts, and batman is not so dark. Batman is the 3 year olds hero.

We watch alot of old cartoons, and best believe I am raising them to be ready for what is comming. It's only right, they are having fun now, but they know damn well what's going on in the world.

Kids are the Best, the only thing that makes me instantly smile!

we're breeding our kids to ruin the world, plain and simple

its a one line post but its a one line answer, we're dooming this planet with the way we're raising our children, and im saying this at only 23 years old, its pathetic

i look at 16 year olds, and i mean by no means was i a little angel, but kids nowadays...damn

i know what you mean OP, it's hard to work out what will make kids happiest in the long run. i don't know if they need that much, as such, to be happy but they hate to feel left out or left behind as regards other children.

i think tv ads kind of play on this a lot. in the ad you have there they say stuff like "sung by the coolest kids around". it's difficult for children to counteract this type of manipulation.

i'm seriously considering banning TV for a couple of weeks, i have a suspicion that it's addictive and a few weeks of withdrawal would the whole family a world of good.

now that you bought it up and i'm thinking about it, it seems a better and better idea. i'm just thinking about how much fun it is to be outside as a kid.

i don't ever remember being inside and happy as a child. i know i was inside, i assume quite a bit, but it doesn't seem to have made much of an impression on me. i remember being outside and i remember wishing it would stop raining so i could go out, and i can remember not wanting to come inside in the evening, but i don't remember being inside.

Yes my advice to you would be, cut your tv cable.
It is feeding your child with information way beyond your control.

I did and i am glad i am in control of the info feed.

My whole family was so self absorbed a year ago its not funny. If they wanted it we bought it. Until one day I heard my 5 year old at the time making fun of another girl because she was poor. Broke my heart when I realized what we were teaching our kids. Instantly we decided (my husband and I) to teach them a lesson. We cut cable, allowances, extra activities, eating out all expensive snacks. We started cooking all meals from scratch bargain shopping. The first month we drove each other crazy they were bored all the time. Cried because they couldnt have what they wanted at the stores.
Well here we are a year later. Looking back now I am so disappointed in the way we were living and what we were teaching our kids. But I am so proud of who we have all become. We do have basic cable back. We hardly watch it. Everyone sits together and watches and discusses the news. Even our 6 year old.
We play board games. We go to the local forrestry and spend the day out there hiking and playing in the creek. We go fishing. We are teaching the kids how to survive if the SHTF. We got them involved over Christmas and Thanksgiving by adopting a family to provide a weeks worth of meals for. They loved it.
Our 6 year old told us after Christmas it wasnt so bad being poor that she was actually happier.
We learned that not keeping up with our friends made us better prepared for anything that might come our way. We have grown as a family, better role models for our kids and we now contribute to society.
It just takes time patience and the right mindset.

I agree with everything said so far, just one step further:

Children are the greatest pieces of soul on this earth. So i am serious when i say: Do as much art as possible and give them the opportunity to develop their sleeping psychic abillities.

Your children are the future.
Show them the commercials and point out, what is bad, what is superficial, what is plain wrong. They are far cleverer than you think they are. They will get it, at one time or the other.

Educate them in philosophy (i am serious). Tell them, what Heidegger and Kant have to say about the world. Explain the economic crisis. For sure in easy words, lively and playful.

And value their opinion. Be serious with them. Ask about their dreams, ask what they love, listen carefully. Let them paint, let them write and do music with them. Allways with a smile, and with love and serious, not stubborn or hard.

And above all: Show them nature. Go to hills and mountains, show them grass and birds. Let them touch and breath and develop a strong love to reality.

And give them time! For the world's sake, give them time. There is a song by John Lennon:


As soon as your born they make you feel small
by giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and despise a fool
Till you're so #ing crazy you can't follow their rules
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religon, sex and T.V.
and you think you're so clever and classless and free
but you're still #ing peasents as far as I can see
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be

There's room at the top I'm telling you still
but first you must learn how to smile as you kill
if you want to be like the folks on the hill
Working Class Hero is something to be

Yes , A Working Class Hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

(Remember all this carefully)

Never go to zoos, never kill a fly.

Understand and look out for gods spark in their eyes and minds and hearts. Meditate about your own childhood. Meditate about the universe, then look into their eyes and feel what resonates between you and them. Try, not hard, just with love, to establish telepathy between you and them. If you feel nothing, don't care. Don't put your ego in anything related to the kids. Never let ego interfere with anything they do. Don't be proud of them. Don't measure them. Never compare them to anyone. They deserve only the purest love you have.

Ah, and get rid of this damn box.

Our system of education is a joke. Don't trust them.

I am yet not in the age to have kids, but i will soon. What i wrote is what i wanted my parents to give me.

All love

(Reread the post and meditate about the visions that come to your mind.

edit: Don't eat meat

[edit on 18-2-2009 by Wachstum]

Wow!
Its all so true. I am so happy to hear such truth when it comes to children.

The kids are our only hope.

We must realize how important they are to the survival of mankind.