I was at Karen’s desk and she was approving my transport claims. She was telling me about how Christmas is less than 4 months away and all the shopping she needs to do.
I asked about her kids, and if they were high maintainence (they aren’t), and soon the conversation steered towards the rampant wants of today’s youth.
“I have young cousins who want to rebond their hair and theywant iphones and ipads!” I remarked, “stuff that that costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars! Madness!”
I shared with Karen my strategy for dealing with that problem when I have kids.
“When they ask for an iphone, I’ll give them the worst China-made counterfeit possible. I hope they get so traumatized by the experience, they’ll stop asking me for expensive tech!”
If my children are smart enough to detect it’s a counterfeit, I will tell them ,”You weren’t genuinely good for the whole year, so Santa didn’t give you a genuine iphone.”
Thinking about the greed of today’s children made me think about my own childhood.
When I 5 years old, I wanted a playset. All I got was a cardboard box with holes cut into them.
This was my first memory as a child. It was also the first time I ever used the term ‘WHAT THE HELL?”
And keep in mind, my father was a well-to-do-banker. But he didn’t want “to pay so much for plastic”, so he and my mum cut some holes into a TV cardboard box, drew on it with some markers and gave it to me as a playset.
Ten years later when my brother was born, even though didn’t even want it, my father bought him an Xbox simply for the hell of it.
In hindsight, I’m glad I did not wake up in a trash can the next day.
To be fair, my brother was born during a time when my father had less financial commitments. My sister and I were grown up and he had less to worry about. And though I could be miffed about receiving a cardboard box, I was grateful that my parents took to effort to try and make me something instead of giving me nothing.
As a kid, I also had more stuff than my friends, so I am thankful for that. But a box? Seriously?
Looking back on the whole situation, I find it quite funny. It has got to be one of the biggest WTH situations of my life.
And I was a very cute young boy, so my parents’ actions were unforgivable!
Love ya mum and dad!
