Bear,
Yah. I can totally understand. I too buy more things for my girls then I should. And I totally agree that my indulging my girls comes from me earning my own money. It's the thinking of... "becos I have, therefore I can spend and pamper my child." and the "I'm not going to take this priviledge away from my child as long as I can afford the best'.
However, I'm beginning to see the negativeness of my actions. My girls are starting to turn into spoilt princesses. When they dun get their way, they will pout and walk off. So I've to start reining in with a much firmer hand. Explaining to them why they cannot buy the toy/dress/shoe/etc. How and what they need to do to 'earn' that item which they want. So far, I'm starting out with easy to accomplish tasks. For example, finish your lunch and sit still during meal times and you get an ice cream. Only can buy a new pair of shoes if an old pair is spoilt or too small, etc. No more new dresses till chirstmas, birthdays or CNY or they have outgrown the current supplies. It's rough going and not always an pleasant experience.
As for brand recognition, it's also comes with the territory of allwoing them to watch too much TV. The sooner they are exposed to TV, the more likely they are to recognise such brands becos the ads are eye catching and attractive. It holds the child's attention.
I tink why brand recogniton leads to parent authority being undermined is becos children are misled thru the ads to believe tat these 'brands' are 'good', tat these brands know wats best for the kid, etc. So when parents oppose to these 'brands', the child starts to question :"my parents oppose cos they dunno anything... they are old-fashioned and therefore uncool."
