Economic Effects Of Shaping Childhood

Shaping Childhood

Many parents are complaining that babies are cute but expensive nowadays. In 2013, U.S. News published a set of data of the cost of raising a child for 18 years is about $245,000 for a middle-income family in the U.S., about 25% higher than 1960’s (Kurtzleben). With a large number of women into the workforce, it has a dramatic economic impact. It also increases family purchasing power. Plus the technology advancement, they indirectly shift our cultural value and reshape our children’s childhood. This paper is going to analysis these effects through the visitation of a toy store, a grocery store, and a bookstore, and then, draws a connection with television programs.

Visiting a toy store give us an overall perspective

Majority toys are plastic and battery operated. For example, the toy Ugglys Electronic Monkey has funny animated monkey face. All it does are making rude burping and farting sounds. Other age inappropriate toys are the Bratz dolls. They are intended for age 4 and up, but these “stylish” dolls are dressed in “fashion-forward” clothing with heavy makeup. It closely reflects the current pop culture trends. It pushes young children to grow faster. It reflects childhood adultification in a negative way. A lot of items are heavily tied to TV shows and movies. For example, the Halloween costumes are mostly based on popular TV or movie characters. It is very different from the old tradition values, promoting book characters. These toys included but not limited to Star Wars, Minions, SpongeBob, and some of TV professional wrestlers. All these toys limited children’s imagination and creativity. As the film Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood mentions that children replay the scenes and conversations in the shows with the toys instead of using their

As the result of deregulation, children have been exposed the mass amount of commercial messages every day. Marketers even employ scientific marketing strategies that are not ethical for a single purpose: to sell products as effectively as possible (Consuming Kid). While it is impossible for parents to monitor their children consistently, children become very familiar with the items in the store. As a matter of fact, parents buy these things for their children to keep their children happy even though these items have no educational value. During my observation at the toy store, a grandfather told me that he promised his 4-year-old grandson toys during their “boys day out.” Beside of educational expenses, food and other materials are ranked very high in children’s budgets, about 30%. (Hicken). Media promotes materialistic values in children.

Therefore, our government should regular the unfair and deceptive marketing that are targeting at children. The resilient child in a protective environment is not necessary a good thing. We need to teach them the critical thinking skill to filter out the unwanted information. More important, parents need to emphasize the importance of the moral value. At the same time, parents need to spend more time with their children at the outdoor space for their health and wellbeing. It is important to prepare our children to be a more productive citizen, rather than