Slaying The Dragon
What is the most useful weapon in killing the horrid greed monster that often grips children?
My son just turned eight. During the week of his birthday, he went to Disneyland, Chuck E. Cheese and got breakfast in bed. Still, he found things to complain about. He even went so far as to say, “This is the worst birthday ever!” Something in me snapped. The realization that I had enabled his greedy attitude by giving into his every birthday whim, came back around and bit me right in the butt. He’s not the only child in our family who has displayed such a despicable attitude of greed. The greed epidemic seems to have spread through out our brood. Something needs to change.
In your personal experiences with battling the greed monsters in your children, what tools have proven most useful? Has there been one specific cure for this very contagious ailment? I have a good mind to board the next plane to some impoverished third world country and show them what it is really like to have a “worst birthday ever.” But in reality, I know that the change I seek, needs to take place now and must start with me. Dr.Borba offers this advice over at Family Education:
Step 1: Provide your kids with experiences that focus on basic values, instead of material goods or destinations.
Step2: Cut out the frivolous treats and stand firm.
Step3: Try to cut out exposure to things that encourage greed (the media, for example)
Step 4: Teach your kids to love what they have, instead of having what they love.
There are other steps in the process of slaying the greed dragon, but for now, we are going to focus on these first four steps. In the meantime, if you would like to read Dr. Borba’s book, Don’t Give Me That Attitude, it is available for purchase at Amazon.com. Tomorrow, I shall strap on my armor and declare war against the greed! Wish me luck!
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POSTED IN: Parenting
2 opinions for Slaying The Dragon
BMS
Feb 5, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Controlling media exposure has been my number one anti-greed mechanism. I admit to being a bit extreme - we don’t own a real TV, and mostly use it to watch DVDs and videos, and even then only on weekend afternoons if it is rainy. So my kids don’t know that they’re supposed to be wild about, Webkins, for example. Their friends have them, and talk about them, but my kids sort of shrug and say “So? It’s a stuffed animal.” I don’t allow them to spend a lot of time on the computer (although I will let them look stuff up if they need to know something). They don’t live with commercials hammering at them 24/7, and it makes my job easier. I would rather cook dinner with them underfoot - that’s just 20 minutes of my day, and they are old enough now (7 and 6) to help. But if I use those 20 minutes a day to expose them to the media, then I’ve got a much bigger problem on my hands. They do have wants - but they know they have to either wait for a birthday or other such occasion or save their allowance. Media makes more work for me - so I keep it out of my house as much as possible.
Kadi
Feb 7, 2008 at 11:10 am
Extreme times call or extreme measures! Kudos to you, BMS, for raging against the machine!
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