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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think Xmas gifts for kids have just got ridiculous?

126 replies

PoppyPrincess · 15/12/2012 07:51

I asked DSD what Father Christmas was bringing her yesterday, she replied ''a blackberry tablet, it's like an iPad''
She's bloody 7 years old! She's already got a blackberry phone, an iPod touch, a laptop and a leap pad tablet. She never even uses the laptop or the leap pad tablet that she got last year.
Seriously what can she do on this tablet thing that she can't do on her laptop or iPod touch?
Neither my DP or her mum are well off so it's not like they've got the money to indulge the kids with expensive and unnecessary gifts.
When I was 7 I was playing with dolls! The only electrical stuff I was interested in was a cassette player (yes I'm showing my age here!)
I also feel a bit shit for DP as he's got bikes for them and a couple of other toys and I think he's worried that they're going to compare them to their fancy gifts from their mum.
I know it's up to their mum what she decides to buy them but I do worry that she's just spoiling them, possibly to be the more popular parent (but that's a separate issue).
I just think that this culture we have where kids get spoilt and given any gadget they fancy is just getting daft, how are they ever going to appreciate the value of money when they are given whatever they want and not made to save for it?
When I was a kid I knew there was a budget for Xmas and birthday presents, if what I wanted was over that budget then it would have to be a joint present or I'd get money and have to save for it.
Yes I know that not all parents give these expensive gadgets willy nilly and I'm sure there are lots of parents who do make their kids save but it just seems to me that the culture seems to be going more towards giving our children expensive and unnecessary gifts and basically spoiling them.

OP posts:

mum2twoloudbabies · 16/12/2012 09:16

Well said ChippingIn. I'd be willing to up you to the smuggest load of nonsense I have read on here this year!

Waitingforastartofall · 16/12/2012 09:24

Hehe just read the smug post, im amused. I have 3 ds's in the house, a laptop and a tablet. clearly we dont go the park,talk to each other or do any baking.

Or y'know we could just switch them off put them away and get on with things :)

pictish · 16/12/2012 09:26

Well said Chipping.

I love how everyone else's kids 'gawp' at screens, but according to onebad her kids don't - they use them.

McChristmasPants2012 · 16/12/2012 09:45

my son almost 7 loves gadgets, he never has played with toys ( not even as a baby or toddler)

so this year he is geeting a dsi.

he do understand the value of money, it christmas and this is a gift it's not like we never go shopping or go to the park or anything else.

Goodtalkingtoo · 16/12/2012 09:49

Can I just say that it all sounds extravagant, a tablet, a phone etc etc but these items can now be bought for the same price as a bike. My son is 13, has dyspraxia, he is getting a tablet for Xmas, not sure of make, partner dealt with that but it cost less than my daughters bike, that she asked for.

Goodtalkingtoo · 16/12/2012 09:57

Can I also add that the older the kids are the more they accumulate. My son does have his own pc, last years Xmas, bought for him starting secondary, due to his disabilities desperately needed it as he can't write. We also have an Xbox 360' bought for kids 2 xmases ago between 4 of them. My son has a mobile phone (£19.99) very basic, I have a mobile phone, we need them to keep in touch as he suffers anxiety. So if you add it all up and look at what we have it appears a lot, but these items are well cared for and have accumulated over the years. There are reasons why some people have more gadgets than other. I would love to buy my son a bike, but due to his bad balance he will never ride one, his leisure time is spent gaming, doesn't make us overindulgent or a bad family.

MadameCreeper · 16/12/2012 09:58

I received an email link to a google tablet for £59 last week, that would buy a medium sized Lego set.

Waitingforastartofall · 16/12/2012 10:08

I agree re the cost, i saw a tablet on amazon for 79.99, this is as much as some of the top toys listed for christmas and its alot less than some aswell.

maleview70 · 16/12/2012 10:09

Kids get way too much nowadays and will be in for a shock when they leave school and have to start paying for things for themselves.

However if parents can afford it the it's up to them. If they can't afford it but still buy it anyway then that's another matter....

MadameCreeper · 16/12/2012 10:10

Chubfuddler No hole in the road here. Large house, nanny, gardener, cleaner, swimming pool, huge play room stuffed with toys, electronic games, 2 to 3 foreign trips a year. The riding instructor came to our house, to teach us in at our stables in our grounds. I've grown up to be fucking fantastic person

Imaginethat · 16/12/2012 10:10

Don't get too het up about it, kids ask for stuff, doesn't mean you have to get it for them. My dd once asked for a flying mermaid but she managed to come to terms with not receiving one.

About the tablet, if you can't afford it, that's that really, isn't it? I don't think she is being unreasonable though, she is just asking for what she has seen on TV, in shops, at friend' etc

McChristmasPants2012 · 16/12/2012 10:14

Kids get way too much nowadays and will be in for a shock when they leave school and have to start paying for things for themselves.

not really, when i moved out i wanted all the things i never had and as a result i am in alot of debt.

My parents saved for everything they had and my dad has never been in debt.

Waitingforastartofall · 16/12/2012 10:17

I dont agree with the in for a shock comment, most kids as they grow up realise the price of the these things but thats the beauty of saying what do you want for christmas, as a child you dont factor in how much a laptop,pony or whatever else is you ask for what you want. As an adult its very different and they will learn to factor in the cost.

4lovelychildren · 16/12/2012 10:18

Onebad - how very judgemental of you!! We all hold different family values and I don't know how you can be so smug if you spend such a little amount of time with your children during the week - very sad.......

Idocrazythings · 16/12/2012 10:19

Wow! Reading this no wonder dd was put out when I said she couldn't have a mobile until she was 16?

dishwashervodkaanddietirnbru · 16/12/2012 10:29

dd has a cheapie mobile (she is 9) and she uses it when she goes out to play with her friends. There are a few houses on the estate that she may go to as she has friends there and it saves her having to come back to the house every time to say where she is. I can also call her and tell her to come home rather than trawling about trying to find her.

Idocrazythings · 16/12/2012 10:31

To be honest I'd do the same dishwasher I think it depends on circumstances and actual need for one. They do have a good place for safety.

Original poster

PoppyPrincess · 16/12/2012 10:53

Yes I totally agree with kids having a cheapie mobile phone so they can contact parents / parents can contact them, I remember my mum having search parties out for me when I was a kid cos I'd go playing in someone's house and not think to let her know where I'd gone...oops!

Just to clarify I'm not totally opposed to kids using any of these gadgets or maybe owning one or two but in the case of DSD it's just the sheer quantity of it and she's not even that interested in it really, i suspect it might be more of a fashion accessory to her. I think she does sometimes think she's 27 rather than 7 but from what I have seen of her friends I think that's just the way little girls are now, they seem a lot older than we were at 7, sob :(

I think their mum does probably encourage the techie stuff as she's not one for taking them to the park on their bikes or baking cakes with them, I'm not being a bitch when I say that, she would openly admit it herself.

OP posts:

butisthismyname · 16/12/2012 12:26

I seriously have very little idea of what any of these things actually do I know what an iPad is - although we don't have one and I know what a blackberry is - had one and had it nicked :( But what is a tablet? Ds12 is getting an iphone as his main present and has a PS3 in his bedroom. DD uses the computer and the laptop. I know that this gadgetry is where it's 'at' nowadays and we all need to use these things, but I'm scared!! Also they are quite expensive aren;t they? I don't bake cakes or anything either

dishwashervodkaanddietirnbru · 16/12/2012 12:46

an ipad is a tablet! We are getting the kids samsung galaxy tablets at christmas which is an Android tablet. They use a different operating system to the ipad but have the same sort of functions.

Original poster

PoppyPrincess · 16/12/2012 12:51

A tablet is an iPad type thing.

And just because you don't bake cakes doesn't make you a useless mum, it's just different styles of parenting. I'm sure we all do different things with our kids. My grandparents didn't really play with their kids at all but they educated them, my mum could read a book by herself at the age of 3 because her parents chose to teach rather than play. Some people would see that as a good thing, others would see it as a bad thing.

OP posts:

overbythere · 16/12/2012 12:53

After much deliberation I bought my daughter an iPod touch for her 8th birthday last yr. She kept trying to sneak it out of the house in her pocket, then she accidentally dropped it and the screen cracked. We now haven't seen it for months, it has completely disappeared! What a waste of money. No gadgets this Xmas or birthday. She is too young to appreciate the value of them. I considered getting an iPad for family use but figured it would be one more thing to argue about so even though I would love one, I have decided against it.

butisthismyname · 16/12/2012 13:37

The phone we have got ds is a galaxy! It was almost sit-com esque, dh and I trying to set it up for him! We had to call vodafone and ask them to speak very slowly.... I would rather sit with dd and read a book or learn something from an encyclopedia to be honest. Trouble is she's really creative and likes sewing and drawing and making things, which I would rather eat my own sick than doam not very good at..

butisthismyname · 16/12/2012 13:37

would rather eat my own sick than do kind of lost the impact there!

LeBFG · 16/12/2012 13:52

I can understand people wanting their DC to use, interact and learn about modern technology - but games consoles and mobile phones? Do these really fall into learning-about-technology? I don't buy this.

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