What are we teaching our children?

A sad commentary on the rising generation:

On Monday I drove M&M and 2 of her friends to their gymnastics class after school and we got to talking about what the girls got for Christmas. (Keep in mind that these girls are all 8 years old.) One of the friends piped up that she got a T.V. for her bedroom. The other friend said that she got an iPod (she already has a T.V. in her room). Then the two of them had a little discussion between themselves naming things that they have, trying to "outdo" the other (M&M says they do that often). They then proceeded to ask M&M what she got for Christmas. I can't even remember now if she answered the question or if she dodged around it and changed the subject.

Needless to say I was a little surprised at the parents of these girls and what they are thinking by giving their kids these things at such a young age. It made me reflect: What are we trying to teach our children? That material possessions are the most important things in life? What are these 8 year old girls watching on their T.V.'s and listening to on their iPods? When DH & I turn the T.V. on in the evenings, we are appalled at what is allowed to be broadcast across public stations nowadays. I would say at least 90% of what we come across during the evenings is trash that I would never want my kids (especially at their young age) being exposed to. We've made it clear to our kids several times that they will never have a T.V. or computer in their bedrooms as long as they are living under our roof. We feel that there is just no good that can come of it.

When I related the conversation to DH when he got home from work, we discussed the topic with M&M and emphasized that "things" don't make people happy. I'm proud of her and how she handles her friends - it can't be easy to sit around and listen to them discuss all the "things" they have. We also talked about doing a service project as a family each year (like the surgery dolls) so that our kids can see the importance of serving others and doing things for people who have less than us.

Then to top everything off, I came across this article in our newspaper's editorial section today. It was written by the editors of the paper and echoes a lot of the things that I feel. After reading this editorial, it made me reflect back on the incident that I related above.

Embarrassment of the riches
Deseret Morning News editorial

In 1966, 42 percent the freshman class at UCLA said they thought it was essential or very important to be "very well off financially."

Fast forward 40 years. Nearly three-quarters of UCLA freshmen surveyed in 2006 said being affluent is very important to them. A Pew Research Center poll mirrored those results. It found that among 18- to 25-year-olds in this country, 80 percent see getting rich as a top goal for their generation.

In a culture where the cover of Time magazine's 2006 person of the year was depicted with a mirror (a la the Queen in the children's story "Snow White"), conditions are ripe for some serious self-absorption. Or as David Walsh, a psychologist who heads the National Institute on Media and the Family in Minneapolis, told Associated Press, "Our kids have absorbed the cultural values of more, easy, fast and fun."

But Walsh also points the finger at indulgent parents. Walsh's research has determined, when adjusted for inflation, that today's parents spend 500 percent more money on their children than just one generation ago. It's almost as if parents have an "allergic reaction" to their kids being unhappy, Walsh explains.

So parents open up the wallet. They give their children an unprecedented amount of spending money. The parents shell out for the trendy fashions, cell phones and other consumer electronics, cars, camps and other "must haves." It sends the message that material possession are a premium.

What do we end up with? A generation so self-absorbed and pre-occupied with attaining wealth and all its trappings that it finds no value in cultivating relationships and serving one's fellow man, communities, churches or country?

Interestingly, this obsession with greed comes at the same time that college graduation rates are falling nationwide. There is, apparently, a disconnect between young people who want to be rich and those willing to attend college to improve their future marketability and to learn some important life lessons.

Hopefully, one of the lessons that college imparts is the importance of giving back and being part of something greater than oneself, as countless University of Utah students have learned through their participation in the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center. The center's aim is to foster lifelong service and civic participation, which, unquestionably, will have more positive, lifelong benefit than possessing the latest fashions or techno-gadget to come down the pike. If only more young people could come to appreciate those values.