To be wondering why my local toyshop was heaving today with parents buying piles of toys with their dc/

[MilaMae]

To be frank it was revolting.

I had to buy a cheap doll to stick in dd's bday cake,foolishly thought the place would be empty.

It wasn't -there were parents saying"pick what you like it's all on sale" parents saying "you've got the other 3(scarey toddler size doll)we'll get the boy one too he's half price". There were kids screaming because they wanted more,a 6 year old(ish)girl in front of me with an envelope containing £50 whining because she wanted to go back and spend the last £5.

Now I know some kids get money for Christmas but do they have to spend it now,did they not have enough? I also know some dc have bdays in Dec(my dd included)these were not parents buying last minute presents.

It really was horrible,it was feverish buying for the sake of it. I just don't understand it.

I dont think it is unreasonable to go and buy in the sales but it is awful seeing children acting spoilt. My dd has spoilt moments and it makes me cringe.

We went into town yesterday so ds could exchange a duplicate present he received. He was fine with that, but did look longingly at some of the other items in the shop. I just reminded him he had to plan what he wanted to spend his Christmas/birthday (5th Dec) money on, rather than rush and buy the first thing he saw.

He was ok with that, but is always of the "save it for something I really want" persuasion rather than "buy some tat now". He is 8 btw.

I agree Twinset, but thankfully trips like todays are a rare thing and so mine were just grateful and very well behaved too, thought i had walked out of the shop with the wrong ones a few times

Stocking up for next year?

I've picked up all the stocking fillers and some small gifts for next year already, as well as stuff like wrapping paper, ribbon, etc.

I've had an agreement with DD since she was tiny and wanted some piece of tat every time we visited NT houses, local tourist places etc that she can have £1 to spend now or £2 in her piggy bank. She's almost always opted for the doulbe money! I still do it when they have trips out with school, etc.

well I shall be taking the DS's out tomorrow to spend their gift vouchers/money - DS1 has £10 from Christmas, DS2 has £10 from Christmas, £10 voucher from his birthday and £7 cash.

We were talking today about how they wouldn't get as many Wii games as they did PS2 games - I used to pick the odd £3.99 one up in Morrisons for them if I saw one I thought they'd like. Of course Wii games an entirely different matter.

Told them how much Wii games cost (roughly - and the full price expensive ones LOL) and DS1 (who's just turned 8) worked out that if they club their money together they could get one together. I've told them I'd top up if they don't have quite enough..........

What I haven't told them is that lots of the Wii games are currently in the sale at Argos (where their vouchers are for) and they may be able to almost afford 2 games if I top up a little

I saw an appalling sight at early learning in early Dec.
A really whiny girl of about 4 who already had a lovely shoe set and other stuff her parents were buying for her; her Mum was saying "look these are fab blah blah..trying to get her to forget about the doll she was insisting they buy too - you could just tell she wanted it for the sake of it-. The Dad was in the queue already with loads of other goodies and he said to the Mum - "come on then that too" and undermined everything the Mum had tried to do, but she didn't say anything, just let the girl get what she wanted.

I just thought - that is totally how you spoil a child and mess them up.

Why are some children never just told "No"?