Saying No

Saying no to a demanding child can be difficult, and experts agree that marketers want children to nag their parents until they break down and say yes. Little says she always explains to her children before they go inside a store exactly what they will and will not be allowed to buy.

“Your children will still love you,” even if you say no, advises Linn. “Parents are so worried about disappointing their children. It really is important for children to learn about how to cope and not get their way. It’s a part of healthy development.”

That said, it’s important to say yes to certain things that your child has asked for, as long as the requests are in line with your values, Linn says.

Making decisions as a family about commercialism and communicating with your children about what is important to your family values is the first step in raising a media-literate child. In this technologically advanced era where children are often directly marketed to, parents need to continue to steer their children toward well-thought-out and meaningful choices.

While I’ve realized that I can’t completely shield my children from commercials – and commercialism – I do have a deeper understanding of the impact mass-marketed products attempt to have on my family. And I’ll be sure to explain to my daughter that Clorox isn’t the only product out there to make the tub shine.

Read More: Eight Ways to Help Your Child Be Commercial-Free

Additional Resources

VIDEO: The following is the trailer for Susan Linn’s film, entitled Consuming Kids and based on her book of the same name:

BOOKS

• Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture, by Juliet B. Schor, Scribner, 2004. Solutions to commercialism for parents, teachers and advertisers.

• Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood, by Susan Linn, Anchor, 2005. A look at how modern childhood is affected by commercialism.

• The Case for Make-Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World, by Susan Linn, New Press, 2009. Spontaneous, imaginative play is in jeopardy. Here’s how to keep a child’s innate ability to play from being affected by commercial messages.

Jill Oestreicher Gross is a freelance writer and mother of two.