When I was a young kid, I would see lots of ads on TV for toys. My goodness I wanted so many Star Wars toys when they came out originally. I wanted other things when I was younger than that, such as GI Joes and other cool things. Sometimes I was lucky and got some of the stuff I wanted, but in a lot of cases, just like all of us, I didn't get everything I wanted. I got things like socks or sweaters. What respectable kid during Christmas wants to get socks or sweaters? We want toys and games, just like on Halloween we want candy, not fruit.

You know, because I didn't get all the toys I wanted for Christmas didn't stunt my growth, didn't cause any psychological trauma. I mean, there have been recent times when I've asked for things for Christmas and I haven't gotten them, or an expectant gift didn't show. It didn't cause me to rampage in the street over some perceived injustice.

I bring this up because there is a group of parents, called the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, who have started a letter writing campaign with some toy manufacturers trying to convince them not to advertise products to kids. The parents of this letter writing project state that with the economy today, it’s hard to refuse kids gifts and to market toys to them puts an undue burden on parents.

Oh my goodness people, get a spine!

It seems people find it easier to blame other for their own issues, or just in the way things work. Kids are going to ask for the moon and the stars. Kids have no concept of money because we don't teach them about it. Yes, the joy of childhood is you send a letter to the guy at the North Pole or you write up a list and somehow you get those things. I understand parents wanting to get gifts for kids, but sometimes the best thing you can tell a kid is no. Parents may not want to tell their kids no, but kids aren't going to get everything they want, and they shouldn't expect they can get everything they want. Part of the reason why we are in the economic straits we're in is because people are so concerned about getting things now their willing to put things on credit, hoping later they'll have the money to pay for things. When the money doesn't come, they extend the credit but still don't make the adjustments needed to survive.

I don't get why parents just say no to the things kids want. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. There was one article where a parent said she would prostitute herself to get the toys her kids wanted. Another parent talked about cutting back on food to get toys for the kids. I hear this stuff and I think about sports parents. They didn't make it in sports so their living out their fantasies through their kids. The toy thing sounds a little like that, where there were things parents didn't get when they were kids and are trying to make sure their kids don't 'suffer' through that.

Kids are more resilient that we want to make them out to be. I survived not getting the Star Wars stuff and actually now I have the money to get the stuff I want to get, but I'm also careful about it. I might be willing to pay for a $120 lightsaber replica, but as much as I want the stormtrooper blaster replica, I'm not spending $700 for it and even through I have the money to get a lot of toys out there, when I have to think about things I need to survive, those items take a back burner to the realities of the economy.