Of course it’s easy to idealize how you’ll parent before you’re one. Believe me, I have 14, yes 14 nieces and nephews and thought I had many answers. Two boys later, I read your comment on cross-country trips in the car & had to laugh out loud. You’ve obviously never driven ANYWHERE with two toddler boys for longer than two hours at a stretch.

I do agree with the other four, however & in general, think kids have excessive amounts of stuff. When my sister got my son a Star Wars huge clubhouse (the kind that goes indoors, made w/ ripstop nylon & those plastic support thingys) and his friends still make forts from our sheets & lawn chairs. I had very little growing up & ended up becoming a creative director. I had my imagination & that’s what I want to give my sons….except on car trips longer than 2 hrs!!!

Best of luck to you when you do become a parent! I enjoy your blog!

I agree w/ FrugalBabe, sheets and cardboard boxes make the best forts. I’m also jealous you have the N64! We lost it in hurricane k, and I miss mario kart! we had 3 games to that console, and once those flooded, that was the death to gaming for me. :-)

Anonymous is also right–if everyone gave their kids the childhood they had, we’d all be churning butter w/ amish and wouldn’t be posting annoying comments on a blog! haha! too funny.

In my childhood, if we whined as kids in the van on road trips, we got smacked. We went back to our coloring books/puzzle games and were happy kids! Yes, this was before the days of being politically correct.

Hasn’t anyone seen the South Park ADD treatment? :-D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPZ_5qMr-ds

P.S. Im 16, and I have no Console or handheld gaming ystems, I have a computer, a stereo, and a keyboard. I almost didn’t have a computer, because every computer I had died. (NOT MY FAULT)

It was just a blog post for fun. I wouldn’t read into it too much.

Parents should want more for thier kids, to give them things they didnt have.

I had everything i could have possibly wanted when i was a kid N64, Gameboy, new computers, etc.. and yet somehow turned out a half decent person

the way your kids will turn out has everything to do with how you raise them, not what you buy them. little Timmy’s PS3 isnt going to turn him into a degenerate.

My youngest daughter and nephew built their own tree house.. that’s as close as they came to a playhouse (excepting the occasional large cardboard box).

Kids get way too much stuff and way too little real life any more.

I agree with the veterans who have raised or ARE currently raising teenagers and say to never say never, even though these five things are something I agree with.

Of course, the point is moot for me since you’d need to have an SUV/Minivan to get one, and one thing on MY list that many people (unless they have a large household and/or 3+ kids) don’t need is an SUV/Minivan. Look in Europe and Asia, the biggest thing they have is a stationwagon. Fuel- and cost- efficient!

Yes, it gets boring when the sights spiral into monotony…but if I was bored, my kids will be bored, too;)

All things in moderation.

By the way, my dad worked for IBM in the 80’s. I had my first car (new) at 17, and I had one of the first IBM computers (with the monochrome amber screens) in my college dorm in 1988. I asked for neither. I did not grow up spoiled or unappreciative. I realized how much my parents loved me and sacrificed to work hard to give my brother and me what they did not have. And I will do the same for my children.

You can give them all you want. It is how you raise your children that makes the difference. Teach them respect, understanding, compassion, and balance it with reading, creating, etc. Just be there for them. And you will have little problems.