To say no to Claire’s?

[Brokebackretail]

Basically my children aged 6 and 9 want to spend all their pocket money in Claire’s.

Everything they buy ends up broken within a week or two as it's such poor quality.

I want to give them autonomy with their money, and wanted them to change their mind about Claire’s themselves, but there's no sign of that.

Should I outlaw Claire’s and direct them to better quality stuff, or do I let them continue shopping there even though I hate it?

YANBU - outlaw Claire’s!
YABU - let them spend where they want

I don't tell mine they can't spend money anywhere in particular, but if I think it's a daft idea (like the wildly overpriced Claire's), I say things like "let's have a look elsewhere and see if we can get a bit more for our money"

Let them spend their pocket money as they want. That's what it's for. Claire's is fun and cheerful and learning what they like, what attracts them is part of their development. It'll be something else soon enough.

Don't give them extra money if they've blown it all and want something else, though.

The issue is not the quality of the product, I have Claire's hair clips and ear studs that are perfectly good.

You need to teach them to look after their stuff better. It isn't them, or the products, it's you.

Who are you to determine that they shouldn't find joy in it?

Who are you to determine that they should?

Why does a kid wanting to spend their pocket money need to be about teaching something though? Why can't we just let kids enjoy things once in a while?

How the hell does a thread about wee girls buying lip gloss and water bottles end up so soul suckingly grim.

I agree with you, it’s a pile of crap. My kids are pretty careful and last time we went there 2 items were broken by the time we got home!

I told mine about this study when he was about 6 https://jamesclear.com/delayed-gratification it became the subject of a lot of lively discussion for quite some time. Upshot was he wanted to be someone who could cope with delayed gratification and he stopped buying shit. He’s really good at not impulse buying now

because life is about teaching your children things.

Teaching not to immediately spend your income (pocket money, grant money, wages) is a valuable life lesson that we need now more than ever.

Claire's is hugely overpriced crap. how much pocket money do your kids get (esp the 6 year old) so it would stretch to shopping in Claires.

I loved Claire's as a child much to my mums dismay! They do have some decent items albeit v expensive for what they are. Most of it is tat though!
Accessorize might be a better option - maybe a touch more expensive but better quality I think

i do get the attraction of Claire's though, we called it The Pink Fluffy Shop and my DDs were very excited when they found branches here in Germany.

As pp said: the phase does pass. But i do think that teaching them the value of money also includes letting them spend some of their disposable cash on what they want. But i really don't think it hurts to teach things like delayed gratification, or one-in-one-out (which i and a lot of my friends do with shoes and clothes)

You don't learn if someone takes over decisions for you ,you just become resentful.
My mum had this envelope where she put £1.70 a week pocket money in ,to spend any I had to ask for the exact amount,and she wrote on the envelope what I spent it on
Just one example of her controlling parenting .
So I've never controlled any money my 4 DC had ,and they all chose to save well.
Match attacks those football cards ,drove me to distraction,as it felt like a waste of money,but I resisted to urge together involved.
I firmly believe mine are good with money from being able to make their own decisions ..unlike me who got in a pickle at uni from never having my own money to manage

Yes! I don’t imagine there are hordes of penniless adults wandering around cursing their parents for not making them save their pocket money to spend at an artisan craft fair. It’s like wanting to go to McDonald’s and being taken to some grown up restaurant for an Angus beef burger with caramelised onion relish and rocket leaves. Of course the food is better at the restaurant, but sometimes all you want is a McDonald’s😅

Yes, there was a Bow Bangles in Leeds, opposite C and A.

If they'd rather buy cheap stuff that breaks easily that's fair enough. They're only little kids! Claire's isn't that awful is it?
Any other shop within that budget would be just as mediocre quality anyway. At least they're not using Temu!

Why on earth have 6 and 8yos got enough pocket money to regularly spend at Claire’s? After birthday/Christmas, sure. But at that age, a couple of pounds a week to spend on sweets or save up for something else is plenty.

But there are hordes of penniless adults who are addicted to mindless consumerism and oceans full of micro plastics. It's less about banning Claire's as it is teaching them that they don't need to buy things for a temporary dopamine hit. That we shouldn't always have exactly what we want at that moment is a very valuable life lesson

Can you not just explain to them that buying cheap tat means buying twice so better to buy better quality first time? It's an important life lesson. That way she is seeing your logic rather than just a parent spoiling her fun.
I agree with you that all this Chinese made cheap tat just ends up in the rivers and seas and land fill sooner rather than later so best avoided.

agree it is about teaching and learning financial responsibility. But still having "discretionary" spending that they can do what they like with.

In my case my pocket money started small then changed to a monthly allowance. And then my monthly allowance increased slightly so i could have a coke or ice cream when out with friends whereas if i was going out my parents would give me 50p to go with or whatever. In other words: i gradually became more responsible for my own spending. And then i went to boarding school anyway so had to eke out my money to ensure i could still do things at the end of term etc. Thanks to my parents, i managed that a lot better than some, with a lot less money than a lot of class mates.

That we shouldn't always have exactly what we want at that moment is a very valuable life lesson

Nobody suggested it was ALWAYS. Or even exactly. Or even at that moment. Usual hyperbole and exaggeration you see on here.

The OP is literally about how they want to spend all their money at Claire's. So yes, somebody did suggest it is always.

Yes, always - in one small area of their life. But the poster I quoted seemed - to me - to be extrapolating it out into a general way of living. Perhaps I took it too literally. Or read it wrongly. Ah well.

Blimey. Okay.

They get pocket money once a month. They earn it for doing jobs at home - 20p per job, max £1 per day (but realistically they never get past about 60p per day, for jobs like putting away the washing,setting and clearing the table etc) so they end up with about £20 each. And they're canny - it's normally buy 3 get 3 free so they pool their money and go for 6 bigger items for £40 rather than 12 smaller things.

I've talked to them repeatedly about delayed gratification, the environment, saving up for something bigger, low quality products etc and they get it in theory but in the adrenaline of the moment it's often forgotten. That said, older child is starting to think about durability of products, and last month little one decided not to spend straight away as there was nothing she really really wanted.

So maybe it's getting better and I just need to be patient. But I've been cleaning their room of old broken toys today while they're at school and it's all just so depressing!

Claire's is outlawed here too OP. Utter shite and so expensive, will shops designed to make you feel stressed and overwhelmed. They can fuck right off