To wonder why parents buy their children so many expensive gadgets

[frogspoon]

I teach in a private senior school and teach so many children who have or are getting iPads, iPhones, PS4, xbox one etc for birthdays, Christmas etc. Most of these children have multiple devices already, including previous versions e.g. PS3. Surely they can't play on them all at once, why do they need so many?

So why do so many parents spend hundred of pounds on gadgets, plus all the extra games etc, which except for the iPad have very limited educational value? I can understand the occasional very expensive present, but I would expect such a high quality expensive piece of technology to last a child for several years, and that if they are old enough to have the technology, they are old enough to look after it, therefore it shouldn't get broken.

One child I teach has two smart phones currently: a blackberry so he can use BBM, and an iPhone for apps. He is getting a new iPhone 5S for Christmas because he cracked the screen on his old iPhone, plus it is getting out of date. They seem to have no concept of how much these things cost, or how to look after them.

I just think it's getting a bit ridiculous.

What I'm saying is, if they already have an PS3 and an iPad 2, do they really need a PS4.

I had a PS1 when I was 7 and got a PS2 when I was 13. I don't see a problem at all, really. Obviously there's a point where it gets silly but I don't see a problem with replacing a 7 year old console with a newer model, they are quite different.

I don't really see the problem tbh. If the parents can afford it although I will concede two phones is a little OTT, but my dc are much younger.
I too have hugely expensive Lego boxes sitting around and ds didn't get very much from them in fact there are lots of toys in this house which were a complete waste of money. Like most people I have been sucked into the marketing ploy of developmental toys, the vetch stuff, things that sing when a button is pushed and rolls to help baby crawl. Pre-school phonics toys and of course bloody Lego. I should have just lit a fire and burnt the money. I've learnt the hard way that Christmas/birthday gifts should be about what the dc want as they are gifts aren't they? Obviously ds request for his very own polar express train was ignored a few years ago! My point is I'd rather buy something that was enjoyed and used rather than endured and forgotten iykwim

The other thing is, that these debates happen every year. I grew up in the 80's and we were chastised for needing toys when our parents had a tangerine, socks an old bycycle wheel, a stick and a good clip round the ear. Now of course it's the gadgets and when our children are older, they'll complain that in their day they only had iPads and they used their legs rather than a blasted hover board!

Sounds like a mum at my (state) primary school. Her dd has a blackberry and iPhone5, ds1 has an iPad, ds2 is getting a Nokia Lumia for Christmas, ds3 is too small for phones.
Then between them they have Xbox (360?) With kinnect, Wii, ps3, an old mega drive, Nintendo 3ds each, computer, lap top,
And she wonders why they spend all their time on gadgets.

I guess if they can afford it then its up to them, but personally I can't ser why any child needs that many gadgets

My DS might have gone to that school - well maybe not because his fees when he left last year were closer to £19,000 without expenses.

My DC have a smart phone each, a wii (between) an Xbox between, a lap top each. DD has an I-touch and a kindle. DS has a good camera. They have an ancient tv on which to use gamey stuff. They certainly don't get the latest upgrade and they have been made to make do when things have been lost or broken.

We have never been behind with the fees and have tried to keep them quite grounded whilst actually being extremely comfortable without being stinking rich in SW London terms.

I actually find your posts a little bit offensive and I imagine you wouldn't like teaching very much in a bog standard London Comp.

Imperial blether-I was explaining taping the top 40 on a Sunday eve to ds earlier, his face was like this

YABU OP.
We live in a world where we want a new tv. In the olden days, we only bought a new one when the old one broke.

Why do you say that about the bog standard comp? The OP is simply asking why parents are spoiling their children with such expensive electronic items, isn't she? She's not saying anything about their education.

because they can

nearthewindmill, I am confused as to where you have got the fees of my school from, or the location, as I have not mentioned it at any point in this message, and you are actually wrong about both.

I am also confused at what you find offensive, I have made a generic statement which you have chosen to take rather personally.

However you are quite right that I didn't enjoy teaching in a bog standard London comp, which is exactly why I moved out of one and into the private sector. Swings and roundabouts.

'bog standard comp,'

sigh

Point taken but the OP seemed to me to be having a pop at her privately educated charges whose parents have, in her opinion, too much money to spend on them. She's at a London school and complaining the children she teaches have too much. I just wonder what she might think of the priorities of families in the London comps which might well be cheek by jowl to her school. The sort of schools infiltrated by gang culture and huge deprivation and disengagement with education so perhaps bog standard was entirely the wrong word. My apologies - London is a strange mix.

So it's a London private senior school 15,000 a year, and you're thinking a 500 quid phone as a christmas present is inappropriate?

My apologies - you were quoting from another poster's post.

My apologies - you were quoting from another poster's post.

Yes, I couldn't be bothered to correct them that time.

Having a BB for bbm is daft especially when you have an iphone.

Anyway, I am one of those households op. We have lots and lots of consoles. When a new one comes out, I get it. You really play with the same toy all the time? Don't be daft. Sometimes we will play a game on the xbox, other times it will be on an old Nintendo or the ipad. Why? The games are different, the graphics are different. There are some games on available on older models.

As for the educational aspect of having gadgets. Hand eye coordination. Some games are puzzles and require a lot of thought, not just shoot, jump and run.

So if you say these things are getting broken within a year, then they must need replacing regularly - such at the next Christmas and don't have multiple similar devices?

I thought teachers were better at being caught out on such basic contradictions in their arguments?

frogspoon, do tell the poor child with a blackberry and an iphone to just download the BBM app to his iphone, then he can get rid of the blackberry.

Private school= affluent parents. You are really surprised the children are given expensive presents?

Frog: I don't understand why children wonder round with £1k plus of gadgets in their school bags.
I think we live in a wierd world. How often do you see kids (and adults) eating in a restaurant, not talking to each other, but all messing with their phones.

The point is it wouldn't matter how expensive the i stuff is, the advertising has worked so well, that most of us would buy it anyway.
How can anyone possible be credible without the latest i phone, i pad, etc etc.
Sheep.

kulmair said it perfectly: because they can. And why not....

If lad with 2 phones left due to not being able to pay fees just think that finding £15000-£22000 per year (price range of London day schools) is a lot more difficult than finding £500 for a phone.

I don't think it's a private school thing. I live in an affluent area and work in a private junior school.

Approx half the children in the school have a lot of very expensive gadgets and are often getting updates.

The other half-ish certainly do not. Many have almost no gadgets at all. They have the school fees instead.

Whereas the children in the pretty affluent state schools often have lots of gadgets instead of the school fees.

Parents choose different things to spend money on.

My children for example (in private ed but only because I teach there so doesn't really count) have not a single gadget between the two of them. And they know they won't be getting any until they can pay for them themselves (I don't have any either to be fair) because they have a huge amount of dance, drama, singing, music and gymnastics lessons plus a lot of foreign travel every year. It's very expensive and they can't have everything. Few children can.

So, yeah, just choices in a word.

My 14 year old niece wanted £20 for a branded memory stick.
A unbranded one was £5, but she wanted the branded one so it would look so cool on her school desk and everyone would admire it.

So sad.

So if you say these things are getting broken within a year, then they must need replacing regularly - such at the next Christmas and don't have multiple similar devices?

I thought teachers were better at being caught out on such basic contradictions in their arguments?

No Fred, that is exactly what I mean. It's not being caught out. They shouldn't have so many of those items in the first place if they cannot look after them. The child never needed the gadgets in the first place, so they don't need replacing.

It rewards carelessness. Far better to have the child save up their allowance for a few months to meet at least some of the cost of replacing the item, or as busylizzie suggested, sell something else they no longer want or need to pay for its replacement. How can these children appreciate how much these things cost if they are handed to them on a plate, and replaced immediately if lost/ broken.

I wonder what will happen to these children when they grow up, move out, and start working on a low salary, and suddenly can't afford to have all these things they are used to instantly. I imagine some will learn to adapt and live on lower means, but I can imagine some will fall prey to traps such as payday loans in order to instantly get all the things they want, but don't really need, which they were used to as kids.

paxtecum, and was it bought for her?

Maybe whoever was buying it should have given her £5 for the memory stick, and told her to top it up with £15 of her own money if she wished. She might have appreciated its value a little more, and thought a bit about the waste of £15 on a brand name.

Frog: No it wasn't, but she has just been bought a £1k Apple laptop for Xmas.

I suggested that if it was her own £20 she was spending she could buy an unbranded memory stick and some clothes with the £15.00 change.

OP, have you ever seen My sweet 16 on MTV? The amount these teenagers are given is absolutely absurd. Of course they don't need any of it, but the parents have the money and overindulge them, probably because it makes them feel good themselves.
It's just knowing where to stop really.
I think a lot of children are given too much, but then other people would probably think that of my children. It's funny though, my 17 year old has reached the stage of not wanting anything for Christmas, and he doesn't have an i-pad,an i-phone or a PS4. I suppose some people are more into
gadgets than others.

well I guess they are asking for them at xmas and the parents think they will buy them a present they actually want.
what would you suggest they should be buying their kids as xmas presents.
Another point I don't think your OP applies only to kids from rich families either