Monday 9 June 2008

Kids are more open to new stuff. Rubbish.

If I hear one more media mouth piece tell me that youngsters are more open to new experiences than us old farts, I'm going to throw something heavy around the room.

Anyone that has ever tried to buy new shoes for a 2 year old will tell you that kids much prefer the tried and tested stuff - that is, the shoes that they have on their feet today, even if they are now much too small and falling to bits. Same goes with trying to get a kid to have a hair cut, or to try on a new jumper or a new pair of jeans (and I am including a 12 year old in the conversation now).

You can also try swapping out the favourite movies, like Nemo and Toy Story with something new. After a 5 minute tantrum, Nemo will be back in the DVD player.

I accidentally bought the wrong type of teat for a milk bottle the other day, and Junior utterly refused to drink from it. We had to go shopping for the right type of teat today.

I was the same when I was young. I wore things to destruction. I like eating the same food, over and over again. I think I ate cheese and vegemite sandwiches for lunch for 3 years non-stop. I liked going to the same places on holiday. I actually liked the structure and order that my semi-military style boarding school provided. I didn't mind having to wear the same uniform to school each day - the hardest part was changing into "civvies" to wear to dinner, or to wear when going into town on the weekend.

To cap it off, whilst we were at the shopping centre, I watched an elevator door open and about 20 kids piled out. They all looked to be in the 12-14 age bracket. Every single one of the girls was a Veronica's clone - the haircuts, the eye makeup, the clothes. Veronica's to a T.

Kids are only into new things if those new things are comfortably fashionable - ie, if every other kid is doing it. The odd kid might want to try new things all the time, but they are a tiny percentage of wierdos.

The media - spouting crap once again.

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