Britons 'spoil their kids'

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Britons 'spoil their kids'

British parents spoil their kids, particularly at Christmas time, a survey has found.

Many (parents) get into serious debt rather than see their children go without

Margaret Creear, Lone parent action group Gingerbread
Many parents, under pressure from their offspring, are willing to break the bank in order to keep their children in fashionable clothes.

All in all, according to a survey from financial group AMP, more than half of parents make 'serious' sacrifices to ensure their children do not go without.

One in five of 1,000 adults surveyed admitted to not paying bills in order to meet their kids' demands for designer clothes and gadgets.

Arm-twisting

In fact, nearly half the parents surveyed said that they regularly bought designer-label clothes for their children while they themselves had to make do with last year's fashions

More than a quarter claimed that they even went without a haircut in order to pamper their children.

It seems that some kids are expert arm-twisters when it comes to persuading parents to lavish gifts on them.

More than four out of 10 parents admitted they had given in to their child's demands following a temper tantrum.

Five to seven year olds are the best at stomping their feet to get what they want - 58% have successfully employed this tactic.

Yuletide pressure

And at Christmas time the pressure on parents to buy the latest video game or toy can be at its most intense.

A survey from the Association of Investment Trusts (AITC) has found that 19% of 2,000 parents surveyed spend over £300 on their kids at Christmas.

Hottest toys this Christmas are computer games, games consoles and mobile phones.

Margaret Creear, spokeswoman for lone parent action group Gingerbread told BBC News Online of the dangers of parents being too generous at Christmas.

"It can be a nightmare when aggressive advertising puts a parent under pressure," she said.

"Many, unfortunately, get into serious debt rather than see their children go without."
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Check "Your comment" - (where the people share their opinoins)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2500637.stm



What do you think of this?

Would you do that?

What/how you deal with your children´s demand like this?

Come and share your discussion here with us (no bashing/insult) :thumb:
 
have you been there?

the britsh pay up 2 1/2 the taxs we pay..ergo if you make $100 us bucks..here you take home around $78 , there you take home about $50.

so parents say fuck it....ther little bugger suffer all year long ,lets gett'em a big xmas.
it is the the demands of the kids perse, its more of what is happening in the rest of the world.the french have new fashions on a daily basis,while most english go shopping for clothes twice a year.even the ones who live in london.

you need to remember that most english house holds do not have freezers ,and only a small frige if any.they do not spend money on a lot of THINGS. stuff in the u.s. that everybody has are not common there. so xmas is a big deal.
 
>>>you need to remember that most english house holds do not have freezers ,and only a small frige if any.<<

oh ??? where did you get this info???

Fuzzy
 
Audiofuzzy said:
>>>you need to remember that most english house holds do not have freezers ,and only a small frige if any.<<

oh ??? where did you get this info???

Fuzzy
Click to expand...

From the same people who said that Canadians live in Igloos.
 
Interesting!

Depend on the people who can afford anything or not...

I born and raised in England and know the comparion between Germany & England. I would say that British are senseless with money budget than Germany. I live in Germany for 20 years and learn awfully alot from Germany life/budget.

Depend on different incomes what they can acheive or not. There´re common in England who own fridge with freezer instead of just freezer.
 
lets see

i lived in england for 6 months. every apt i went to did not have a freezer, i asked a capt of the royal navy and he told me most do not have them. i asked for water at a restraunt and got a "bloody yank" comment.

havent you noticed in just about every english and irish movie the people shop for food every day? no freezer!
to many people here think that rest of the world is like the US.wake up!

i raced bicycles for many years which made me travel the world.
 
germany

i must admit the germans have more ,mostly due to the fact they have more to spend. they pay closer to us in tax's.
 
I'm sorry to say this but this sure reminds me of my Uncle..This story is a bit different you see, my uncle pays his bills but the problem is he spoiled his girls too much, whatever they want, even if they snapped their fingers, he get it for them no matter how much it may cost etc... And another things which bugs me the most is when he is in the middle of doing something, his daug comes up to him and say, my tv is broken, can you fix it?, he dropped what he was doing and rush over and fix her TV, here's another one, when he was helping his daug moved out, he was carrying the couch, she stopped him and told him my radio is broken, can you fix it? he suddenly dropped the couch and rush to her aid and fix her radio... :shock: ..

I've never seen anything like this in my entire life....He.........*speechless*
 
vfr said:
i lived in england for 6 months. every apt i went to did not have a freezer, i asked a capt of the royal navy and he told me most do not have them. i asked for water at a restraunt and got a "bloody yank" comment.

havent you noticed in just about every english and irish movie the people shop for food every day? no freezer!
to many people here think that rest of the world is like the US.wake up!

i raced bicycles for many years which made me travel the world.
Click to expand...
I watch many of the British home decorating programs on TV, and I notice that most of the average houses and flats have very small refrigertors, like Americans would use in a dorm room. Many of them are the size that fits under the kitchen counter.
Like this:
http://www.shopcreator.com/mall/easybuy/products/product-1336024.stm

Americans like double doors, icemakers, drink dispensers, etc., in huge refrigerators. We use a lot of frozen foods.

I'm sure wealthy people have larger frig's; I don't think the Queen uses a dorm-size one, ha, ha.

BTW, when you were in England, did you ever ask for cold beer in a pub?
 
Spoiled Europeans?

Well Folks.... This is my observations when I had traveled Europe over the years, Most European rather buy fresh foods from the market everyday and against processed or manufactured food like the americans do. They objected having fast foods like Mc Donalds etc. The Europeans trend to eat their meal in small amount rather than super size foods like we do. The American Way: :bowdown: The bigger, The better! Also I think it also has to do with how we view about money. I remembered when my parent had invited their european friends to america, the first impression, postive or negative, they were overwhelmed by seening so many foods in our food stores and thinks we are spoiled with too much of everything (commercialization). Wal-Mart is one example of it. :spam: :spam: :type:
 
Wow, how interesting!

I know the UK's hideously expensive, and I wouldn't want to live there for anything. Somehow it doesn't surprise me that the British had less room for more technology compared to the US and maybe Australia.

I noticed there were less American influences in the Scandinavia, which I thought was sensible because they're not succumbing to the pressure to have American food in their countries as quickly as other countries.
 
Miss-Delectable said:
Wow, how interesting!

I noticed there were less American influences in the Scandinavia, which I thought was sensible because they're not succumbing to the pressure to have American food in their countries as quickly as other countries.
Click to expand...

You made an interesting point, I had traveled in the Scandinavia for two weeks during the late 80's and people seems to be the most educated europeans. I also think their government has a lot of control over what comes into their countries HUH? :dunno:
 
>>Most European rather buy fresh foods from the market everyday<<

that is very fine and dandy except for this little fact - European cities are very small compared to American, it's easy there to shop everyday if you are only two walking steps away from the closest grocery store or market place. There is plenty of local growers who spread their produce right there under your nose so there is no plm with getting anything that's within easy reach.
Try here- I have to the closest farm 30 km so -no thank you I am not gonna go there everyday to buy a mere bunch of veggies for this one soup..
same with meat and everything.

>>i lived in england for 6 months. every apt i went to did not have a freezer, i asked a capt of the royal navy and he told me most do not have them. <<

with all due respect you probably weren't going to rent at top places in the top apartaments with top appliances. You probably must have been careful with your budget so .. naturally, who's gonna buy a freezer for average or less than average rental place?

And believe me, I used to live in Poland and we did have refrigerator with a small freezer which was usually bursting at the seams from frozen meats and other stuff. We even freezed milk to keep it fresh longer. Already in the 60ties.
So it's not that people don't have freezers, they probably do, they simply rent apmnts without them.


Fuzzy
 
When I was living in my own studio in Germany, I didn't even buy a refrigerator, but I did put some of the food in the refrigerator in the common kitchen. (don't call me communist, it was in Western Germany!) I had a free student pass to the public transportation, so it was very easy for me to take the tram to the local marketplace and to buy fresh food everyday. Only took like 30 minutes, and I could always walk around the park and admire the landscape. Ahhh, good old memories.
 
vfr said:
havent you noticed in just about every english and irish movie the people shop for food every day? no freezer!
to many people here think that rest of the world is like the US.wake up!

i raced bicycles for many years which made me travel the world.
Click to expand...

Yes most of people have small freezer on the top of fridge.

Yes people goes to shopping everyday to buy fresh foods, no matter how close stores you have... You can go by 15 to 30 minutes walk, use metro or bus.

I used to live one bedroom apartment in London. I have a small fridge with top of freezer. I went to shopping everyday by 30 minutes walk or get the bus.

The area in Germany where I live is village which it's 3 miles away from town. I went to town by bicycle to buy small things what we need everyday. If I want fresh air then go for a walk to town to get something.

I used to stop at store to buy something before on my way to home from work.

If there're big foods/drink shopping then use a car.
 
^Angel^ said:
I'm sorry to say this but this sure reminds me of my Uncle..This story is a bit different you see, my uncle pays his bills but the problem is he spoiled his girls too much, whatever they want, even if they snapped their fingers, he get it for them no matter how much it may cost etc... And another things which bugs me the most is when he is in the middle of doing something, his daug comes up to him and say, my tv is broken, can you fix it?, he dropped what he was doing and rush over and fix her TV, here's another one, when he was helping his daug moved out, he was carrying the couch, she stopped him and told him my radio is broken, can you fix it? he suddenly dropped the couch and rush to her aid and fix her radio... :shock: ..

I've never seen anything like this in my entire life....He.........*speechless*
Click to expand...


:shock: wow, Yes, I has to agree with you that I never see anyone like your Uncle in my life... Your uncle is very good heart man... His children are very lucky to have a good heart father like him. It prove them how much he love his children.
 
Reba said:
I watch many of the British home decorating programs on TV, and I notice that most of the average houses and flats have very small refrigertors, like Americans would use in a dorm room. Many of them are the size that fits under the kitchen counter.
Like this:
http://www.shopcreator.com/mall/easybuy/products/product-1336024.stm

Americans like double doors, icemakers, drink dispensers, etc., in huge refrigerators. We use a lot of frozen foods.

I'm sure wealthy people have larger frig's; I don't think the Queen uses a dorm-size one, ha, ha.

BTW, when you were in England, did you ever ask for cold beer in a pub?
Click to expand...

Very true.

They don't have basement like what we have in Germany. They have tiny rooms in the house/flat - Alot of British used fridge with small top of freezer.

British use beers in their house rarely but go to pub. Of course they serve cold beer in the pub. Here in Germany, we use alchohol in the basement which British doesn't have.

It would offend British people if you ask for beer in their house because it's rude. Achohol is for Pub..., not in the house... but with party is a different story.

When my British friends came to visit Germany and shock to see how big houses/garage/big garden/plenty rooms Germans have - thought it's for rich people which it's not true. I showed them the difference houses... If you see villas is for rich people - normal houses is normal people. In England, if you see big house is rich people... small house is normal people.
 
redwine said:
Well Folks.... This is my observations when I had traveled Europe over the years, Most European rather buy fresh foods from the market everyday and against processed or manufactured food like the americans do. They objected having fast foods like Mc Donalds etc. The Europeans trend to eat their meal in small amount rather than super size foods like we do. The American Way: :bowdown: The bigger, The better! Also I think it also has to do with how we view about money. I remembered when my parent had invited their european friends to america, the first impression, postive or negative, they were overwhelmed by seening so many foods in our food stores and thinks we are spoiled with too much of everything (commercialization). Wal-Mart is one example of it. :spam: :spam: :type:
Click to expand...


Very True,

I remember to have American family visit to my house. They are shock to see "small" fridge & freezer we have for 4 people in household. :rofl: I said to them that it's "big" to me but they see different... I was like :shock: when they described how big freezer & fridge they have in America. Too giant... :shock: I convinced them that I get something fresh everyday instead of store alot of freeze foods as "storage"... They laughed.

I have some Germans friends who visit in America told me that they saw giant fridge/freezer... wow... They got me curious.... I MUST visit America to look how "giant" fridge is... then take a picture of my sons with giant fridge/freezer. :giggle: *kidding*

You remind me of old married couple, I met at BBQ party last summer. They talked about their son & his family live in America & told me that they don't have meal times for a day but a big breakfast in morning and then big dinner in evening... :shock: I'm going to create a thread later to find out what daily time American, Austrialian, and any countries in the world to have their daily meal time. Of course I will share mine...
 
Miss-Delectable said:
Wow, how interesting!

I know the UK's hideously expensive, and I wouldn't want to live there for anything. Somehow it doesn't surprise me that the British had less room for more technology compared to the US and maybe Australia.

I noticed there were less American influences in the Scandinavia, which I thought was sensible because they're not succumbing to the pressure to have American food in their countries as quickly as other countries.
Click to expand...


Yes, very true.

British is third expensive in the world.

I must say that I began notice how difference between Europe and American since I learn alot from American forums. Too different but it's really interesting to know what kind of lifestyles we have in different countries.

We don't have American foods here in Germany... Germany accept chinese, Asia, India and other countries foods except America. I really don't know why. :dunno: If I want to order anything from English foods then do that in online... I saw British foods at Munich & buy branston pickle... (it's my favorite)
http://toytownmunich.com/wiki/British_and_American_Foods
 
Audiofuzzy said:
>>Most European rather buy fresh foods from the market everyday<<

that is very fine and dandy except for this little fact - European cities are very small compared to American, it's easy there to shop everyday if you are only two walking steps away from the closest grocery store or market place. There is plenty of local growers who spread their produce right there under your nose so there is no plm with getting anything that's within easy reach.
Try here- I have to the closest farm 30 km so -no thank you I am not gonna go there everyday to buy a mere bunch of veggies for this one soup..
same with meat and everything.

Fuzzy
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know what I say about America but I beleive that America is a large and opposite to Europe. I would say something if I touch America in my life.

I can understand it's good reason for Americans to use giant fridge/freezer who live in countryside far away from town/city.

Well I has to compare between British & Germany. I must say that British stores/metro etc are closer than in Germany. We don't have metro in the town but trains & buses. There're metro in a large cities only.

The village where I live is 3 miles away from town. Of course there're good bus connection but only every 1 hour in village. We travel to town by bicycle around 15 minutes to arrive there or walk to there around 30 minutes. bus around 5 minutes. Alot of people who live in village/countryside seed to grow their vegetables/fruits at their gardens.

K75's post
Ahhh, good old memories.
Click to expand...

Then visit Germany again to fresh your memory... :D
 
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