Raising Wi Consumers
Almost anyone with a profit motive is marketing to innocents. Help your kids understand it’s OK not to have it all. Here are five strategies for raising wi consumers.
1. Lead by example
施工员职责>民族国家的特征
While you may know that TV commercials stimulate desire for consumer goods, you’ll have a hard time lling your kids on the virtues of turning off the tube if you structure your own days around the latest sitcom (情景喜剧) or reality show.
The same principle applies to money matters. It does no good to lecture your kids about spending, saving and sharing when doing out their pocket money if you spend every free weekend afternoon at the mall. If you suspect your own spending habits are out of whack, consider what financial advisor Nathan Dungan says in his book Wasteful Sons and Material Girls: How Not to Be Your Child’s ATM. “In teaching your child about money, few issues are as critical as your own regular consumer decisions,” he writes. “In the coming w
eeks, challenge yourlf to say no to your own wants and to opt for less expensive options.”
2.Encourage critical thinking
With children under six or ven, start by telling them, “Don’t believe everything you e,” says Linda Millar, vice-president of Education for Concerned Children’s Advertirs, a nonprofit group of 26 Canadian companies helping children and their families by media and life-wi. Show them examples of fal or exaggerated advertising claims, such as a breakfast cereal(谷类) making you bigger and stronger.
最赚钱的行业>利率的作用Shari Graydon, a media educator and past president of MediaWatch, suggests introducing children to the “marketing that doesn’t show”—the mascots(吉祥物) and web-sites that strengthen brand loyalty, the trading toys that cau must-have-it fever and the celebrity endorments(代言). “Explain that advertirs pay millions of dollars for celebrities to endor a product, and that the people who buy the product end up sharing the cost,” she says.
懂得放手
3.Supervi with nsitivity
According to a survey conducted by the Media Awareness Network in 2001, nearly 70 per cent of children say parents never sit with them while they surf the Net and more than half say parents never check where they’ve been online. The states for TV habits paint a similar picture. A 2003 Canadian Teachers’ Federation study of children’s media habits found that roughly 30 per cent of children in Years Three to Six claim that no adult has input into their lection of TV shows; by Year Eight, the figure ris to about 60 per cent.
“Rearch suggests that kids benefit more from having parents watch with them than having their viewing time limited,” says Graydon, noting that many children have TV ts in their bed-rooms, which effectively free them from parental supervision. And what exactly does “supervision” mean? “Rather than ridiculing your child’s favorite show, game or web-site, which will only create distance between you, you can explain why certain media messages conflict with the values you’d like to develop in your child,” Graydon says. 田兵
If you’re put off by coar language in a TV show, tell your child that hearing such language nds the (fal) message that this is the way most people communicate when under stress. If violence in a computer game disturbs you, point out that a steady diet of onscreen violence can weaken nsitivity towards real-life violence. “And when you do watch a show together,” adds Graydon, “discuss some of the hidden messages, both good and bad.”
4. Say no without guilt
I’m not proud to admit it, but when Tara asked me if I could take her shopping, I ended up saying yes. More precily, I told her that if she continued to work hard and do well in school, I would take her over the school holidays. The holidays have now pasd and I still haven’t taken her, but I have no doubt she’ll remind me of it soon enough. When I do take her, I intend to t firm limits (both on the price and the clothing items) before we walk into the store.
对联的平仄要求Still, I wonder why I gave in so quickly to Tara’s request. Author Thompson says that my s
tatus as a baby boomer may provide a clue. “We boomer parents spring from a consumer culture in which having the right stuff helps you fit in,” she explains. “Our rearch has shown that even parents in poor homes will buy Game Boys over necessities.” In fact, 68 per cent of parents routinely give in to their kids’ requests.
To counteract this tendency, Graydon says parents have to “learn, or relearn, how to say no.” And what if the child calls you a mir or reminds you that her best friend has four Barbies (芭比娃娃) and she doesn’t even have one? Graydon suggests practicing this mantra (祷 文) :“We create our own family rules according to our own family values. We create our own family rules according to our own family values. We create …”
