Reply to Are those of you with very arrogant, condescending kids aware of it? Does it bother you?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How old are the kids? The example you gave wouldn’t be something I’d notice. The kid is stating a fact (they’re different brands).[/quote]

If the jackets are both the same shade of green, then they match regardless of brand and it's weird and rude for the second kid to draw a distinction based on the brand.

That's also definitely a learned behavior. The kid is conscious of the brand and the idea that it is nicer/more expensive.Thats coming from parents.[/quote]

Probably not much of a learned behavior. Kids have access to a ton of information. Group think is strong. Remember what kids were snobby about when you were kids? Did that come from your parents? My parents weren’t aware of all that.

Kids like brands that aren’t remotely relevant to us. They’re capable of following their own group think.[/quote]

16 yr olds, yes -- brand preferences are influenced more by media and peers. But younger kids are mimicing parents. I also know adults who insist on referring to their belongings by brand -- "I left my Patagonia in the Audi" -- and kids will pick up on that and mimic it as part of language learning. If an elementary school kid is very aware of and vocal about brands, that probably coming from family culture.[/quote]

My 10 year old picked up on brands from her peers (Nike comes to mind) and my 8 year old is a mimic and mimics the older sibling. We are not a particularly brand conscious family and I've actively told my kids to stop referring to things by their brand name and find other descriptors, but it happens anyway.

I think people are underestimating the age at which peer influence can come into play.[/quote]

Exactly. My teens have never cared about brands (or clothes generally) but they certainly have been aware of them since elementary school. I don’t get how people think that their kids live in a shell and are only exposed to their parents’ ideas. I mean, they interact with their parents maybe 4 hours a day, tops, once they hit school age. [/quote]

Uh, I say this as a working mom, but -- I am with my kids more than 4 hours on many, many days. Yes my kids are influenced by peers but they absolutely spend more time with family than with any peer set, even at school. And it's not like school is just hours of socializing. I have not found it that hard to remain the biggest influence on my kids in elementary school in terms of their values and behavior. We'll see what MS and HS holds, I'm sure that will change, but with an upper and lower elementary kid it hasn't been that big of a deal yet.[/quote]

Just wait.[/quote]

Maybe. Kids do become more aware of brands as they get older, but my experience is that you can still impose your values. Like my kid might come to me and say they want a specific brand because that's the hot item at school. I always just say, "Why should we spend more for this brand than for a less expensive brand?" I want a good reason. Is it higher quality? Will it last longer? "Everyone has one" can be a reason too, sometimes, if having the same as everyone will actually make our lives easier or better -- sometimes that's the case. But I want my kid to be introspective about this stuff.  In general it works. And there have been instances where I've heard other tweens say something like "yes but mine is from Sephora" or "mine's a real Stanley" or whatever, and my kid will reply "it doesn't really matter though." And she means it. Because I forced her to think through it and it helped her better understand why she wants certain things and what actually matters to her.

Parents are ultimately the biggest influence on kids. Peer influence is usually shorter lived. And kids can be so faddish and impulsive -- you can teach a kid the value in having longer-term thinking if you are consistent about it.[/quote]

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