Can You Raise Non-Materialist Kids During the Holidays?

0:00 hi welcome to this man has an opinion the holiday edition howdy Merry Christmas I'm Joshua David Stein I have a tattoo that says Mo Money mo problems on my arm so it's natural that I'm going to talk to you about materialism during the holiday season which is coming up as our homes fill with toys and our stockings are stuffed who can deny that our hearts are heavier in our souls emptier material purchases won't fill that void in your soul but

0:28 you try explaining that to a five-year-old who wants a talking paw patrol doll it's impossible so how do you communicate to your children that materialism isn't the answer when they're bombarded with messages of consumerism at every step of their lives first is about the approach I know that if I communicate my anti-consumerist message to my sons they are gonna push back just as hard that's how it is with kids delivering that message with aggression will only be met by

0:56 aggression and I can tell you that's gonna backfire so try to be gentle advocating for a non materialist household doesn't mean advocating for a household in which material goods are not appreciated on the contrary it's about appreciating everything that's material and immaterial in your household let me give you an example I order toys for my kids like every dad does the toy comes this big in a huge box what happens in my household is akiles my son will look at the toy if he

1:28 likes it play with it for 5 or 10 minutes fight with Auggie my other son about it toy goes away they're left with this cardboard box the killers will take a marker draw rocket doors or stars or monsters and the box becomes a fort the toys great appreciate that also appreciate the box separate price tag from worth when he conflate those two right the monetary value of something with how much it's worth that is a recipe for creating a consumerist kit

1:58 now the other thing to realize is just as I'm not going to eradicate toys and don't want to eradicate toys completely from my household I'm not going to be able to eradicate or shield my children from the consumers culture outside of my home the outside world will do what the outside world does which is try to sell your kids I want to raise kids who can interpret the messages that are coming in to them understand why they're

2:21 being fed those messages and then make an informed decision about how they want to react to them to understand that it's not just that they want a toy that someone wants them to want a toy I think the healthy approach is to realize on some level and to try to bring this awareness to your kids and however you find works for you that these toys and these gifts might be enjoyable they might be fun and you

2:44 should have fun with them and you should enjoy them and you should appreciate them but they're not the end game they won't last and the happiness they bring will fade doesn't mean the happiness isn't real but it just means it's fleeting the joy of the holiday season is the gesture of giving so it's not the toy the toys are cool it's that you're giving that to your kid it's the hours or days you spend playing with your kid

3:11 with that toy and it's our job as parents not to let their gaze get shifted on to the object that they can hold rather than the experience that they live through I'm Joshua David Stein preaching an anti-consumerist message for a capitalist website do you agree do you disagree what do you worry about let us know in the comments below and if you like this hearing my ill-formed but very passionate opinions please subscribe and have a Merry Christmas I guess or don't

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