Look I didn't grow up with much privilages either and my mom was a single mom, she worked all the time and I always had to watch my younger brother. But it annoyed me everytime she gave in and gave him what ever he wanted when he threw a fit and didn't set boundries because I basically had to give up my childhood to raise my brother and when ever I tried to set limits that mom had set he would never follow it and she would even cave in and let him do what he wanted. I do not regret that I didn't always get what I wanted, I regretted that my mom never listened to me when it came to my brother and always tried to still act like she was the boss of me and act like everything was fine. She's one of those moms that says 'we never talk we need to talk more' but once you say something she doesn't like she tells you to 'shut up' we have gotten in fights when she would even say that I was stupid and then tell me later that she's glad I'm her daughter and she loves me and try to buy me gifts. Kids are smarter than you think, they can see right through you when you try to buy them whatever they want all the time and they know how to get to you. I never got much of a childhood but today I am 21 and I am more mature and responsible than some 25-40 year olds I used to know. My brother is 20 just now starting to get his life on track (a job trying to get GED) and still hasn't graduated high school (he left off as a sophmore) and has gotten introuble with the law alot in his teens and has alot of issues with authority

I have said before that I want to be able to give my kids the life I never had but by that I mean: a family with 2 caring parents that make a comfortable living, a healthy lifestyle (I was and still am overweight), a low environment, and yes, a few toys here and there; but I want them to still do chores and have responsibilities. My fiance and I have talked about when we would let our future kids have cell phones and we said MAYBE when they were about 9 or 10 but it would be one of those cheapy phone where they can only store a certain amount of numbers and most of the numbers on it would be ours and family. And this is because I don't want my kids to feel like toys and technology is a right- It's a previlage and if they do anything to deserve to have that privilage taken away I would more than gladly give it to a child who is less privilaged and will appriciate it.

And yes I too have taken child development classes (currently 29 completed units of ECE as of last semester) and many of my CD/ECE professors who are always keeping up-to-date on studies/laws and have had many years expierience working in the ECE industry (one for over 40 years) all say that children who have too much toys and are exposed to too much technology at a young age tend to be at a higher risk of having lower attention spands and less imagination as they get older than children who are given less electronics and less toys.

Try reading the book 'the power of play' by David Elkind Ph.D- he says he goes into a room of school-agers and non of the children know what imagination is! He also talks about how toys are becoming more like adult items and how it is effecting childhood.

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