Having a materialistic attitude is common when you live in a world of must-haves.
You’re worried that your kids’ concerns revolve around their cell phones, their gadgets, their clothes. You’re worried that they’ve become materialistic. You’re worried that you’ve done something wrong in your parenting.
First, give yourself some comfort, because you didn’t necessarily do anything wrong.
Christine Carter, Ph.D., will tell you that there are 2 main reasons as to why some kids are so materialistic…
- The first reason is that you “socialize [your] kids to be materialistic.”
You may not intend to, but you’re surrounded by material things, and you concern yourself with material things, even if it’s just a simple thing like a mobile phone. Your kids see this, and they do the same. - The second reason “has to do with the degree to which our needs are being fulfilled.”
Many people who live in poverty, for example, feel they need to strive for wealth in order to buy material things in order to be successful. This carries over to the children who, in turn, practice this mentality.
Don’t fret. Here are a couple of ways you can keep your children from being materialistic…
- Limit your kids’ exposure to advertising
- Meet your kids’ emotional needs, not material needs
Do you have a hard time teaching your kids that being materialistic isn’t the best way to approach things? How do you deal with it? What sorts of things do you instill in them in hopes of making them trust that materialism is bad?
What Makes Some Kids So Materialistic? [Greater Good]
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While it may be difficult to limit your kids’ exposure to advertising (it seems as though the moment you enter a public setting, you are bombarded by them), I think it’s important for kids to realize first and foremost that ads ARE ads: Images of what a company urges its consumers to desire. By understanding that Barbie isn’t necessarily what all girls should aspire to be, for example, kids will be able to begin realizing that they CAN defy the imposing ads, and hopefully the materialistic lifestyle that those ads insist upon as well.