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Just in TIME: Are America's Children Spoiled?

Aired July 30, 2001 - 08:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you know the old saying: Spare the rod, spoil the child.

Perhaps some people have been taking that advice a little too literally -- or maybe not. A CNN/"TIME" poll finds that 80 percent of Americans think children are more spoiled today than they were 10 to 15 years ago; 56 percent of those polled admitted their own kids are somewhat spoiled; 11 percent think their kids aren't spoiled at all.

It is all in "Just in TIME" this week -- and in our segment here called "Just in TIME": spoiled children and how to bring them back down to size.

We're joined by "TIME" magazine senior editor Nancy Gibbs, who joins us from New York.

Nancy, thanks for being here.

NANCY GIBBS, SENIOR EDITOR, "TIME": Nice to see you.

MCEDWARDS: You have got some examples in your piece right off the bat. You've got: kids with BMWs, the usual thing; $10,000 makeovers to the room; a kid who gets in trouble with the law, but thinks she should skip her court date so she can go spend her summer in Paris.

What's going on?

GIBBS: Well, I think any parent you ask can give you some examples of the little monster down the street who has never been told no and seems to have no limits set. And this is something parents are very concerned about, actually.

And not only are they admitting that they think that their own children are spoiled, but if you look around, it isn't hard to find a sort of rebellion brewing against this. And there's a lot of evidence that parents are so concerned about how difficult it is to set limits on their children that they are trying now to fight back.

MCEDWARDS: And how are they trying?

GIBBS: It is everything from tactics like trying to shop online so that they're aren't tempted by those long aisles of stuff in the stores, to seeking out other families that share their values. It's a little easier to tell your children why it is that they can't watch unlimited television or play Nintendo all day if their friends are having to abide by similar rules.

MCEDWARDS: It sounds like they're sort of trying to almost fight their own -- their own impulses to consume.

GIBBS: Well, you know, the baby boomers are always accused of being the most indulged generation ever. And so it isn't surprising that they would be charged with raising the most overindulged children.

What interests me, though -- because it is widely agreed that today's children are more spoiled -- is, I think it's worth remembering that just about every generation thinks that the next generation is overindulged.

And there's a lot of evidence that today's kids -- however you measure character -- are actually doing very well. They are doing better than earlier generations of teenagers. And so I think it's little more complicated than to just sort of write off this generation as having been all been spoiled by their parents.

MCEDWARDS: Sure. And, I mean, one of my thoughts as I was reading it was: Hey. Come on. I mean, this can't be the norm. You know, most families can't afford $10,000 to spend on their child's room. They can't afford to buy their child a BMW.

I mean, is this really just about rich kids who sort of have a skewed sense of entitlement, that it's not the status quo?

GIBBS: Actually, when you talk to parents at every income level, they feel like they are wrestling with these issues. It may not be about buying their 16-year-old a car, but it may be about buying an expensive pair of sneakers.

And what parents are increasingly aware of is just how much advertising is aimed at their kids. It's $3 billion in advertising that is targeting children. That's up 10 times in the past decade. That makes it harder for a lot of parents to say no, just because by age 5, their children are asking for things by their brand name.

MCEDWARDS: How much of it is guilt, Nancy?

GIBBS: Well, you know, all the experts will say that one of the reasons parents are spending so much money is because they're not spending time with their kids, and that what kids really need most is their parents time and attention and love.

And all of the stuff can often be compensation. Even that, though, is a little more complicated than it sounds. The University of Michigan did a study that found that parents today are actually spending more time with their children than they did 20 years ago, which is very counterintuitive. Most people think, because of so many two-income families, parents are working such long hours, that it's their kids who are getting short shrift. Actually, parents, by and large, are working very hard to find time to spend with their children.

MCEDWARDS: All right, Nancy Gibbs, senior editor of "TIME" magazine, thanks very much for brining us a snippet of this this morning -- appreciate it.

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