Down with the kids

Unfortunately for the kids I’m reading Affluenza at the moment - and dwelling on the outrageous level of our consumption. I mean, the stuff we buy, how miserable we are working so hard to buy more stuff, throwing out that stuff and then buying more stuff but still not feeling any better!

Anyway, if the kids were a bit older they would be rolling their eyes going, “Uh Oh, mummy is reading one of those books again”! So when faced with the issue that Big Sis is ready for a real bike (with trainer wheels), I sourced one that a neighborhood kid had finished with rather than joining the annual festival of plastic at Toys R Us!

The only problem is that said bike is blue and looks a little, well, masculine. In my day it wouldn’t matter but these days little girls seem to require totally pink bikes, with flowers, Bratz branding all over it and a matching outfit before they can be seen in the park.

DSO discussed this long and hard, we both agreed that the bike we have sourced is a good bike - but there is some niggling feeling that unless you have handed over your plastic to buy the one everyone else has you are some how short changing your kid. You are not living up to your obligations as a successful and insatiable consumer!
Big Sis loves the new bike and at this stage doesn’t care what colour it is.

My only concern is that some delightful 4 or 5 year old girl will approach her and tell her she is riding a boys bike! But I figure that is a good opportunity to reinforce that we march to our own tune in our family, and let her practice telling those not so nice people in the world what they can do with their Bratz dolls!