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Back to School

© Debbie DeSpirt

School is just around the corner. School bags and supplies are dusted from being in the back most corners of the closet. School is a new beginning to broaden our minds and to revisit all our friends we have not seen during the summer. It is also a time to say goodbye to the carefree days of summer, where the days were yours to own and control. You must surrender some control in school and follow the rules of the programs and the teachers to excel. However, do you have to follow the rule to look cool according to the vast media coverage promoting back to school wears? End of August is not a time to clean through your closets but is a time to flood to the malls and to spend all your hard earned cash and that of your parents on the trendy clothes of this moment. By Christmas, much of the outfits will be outdated and by next September, the children could not be seen in such rags.

I have come to understand how the media controls a majority of our purchases. They are very persuasive to the young and naïve. How do we teach our kids that overconsumerism is not a great lifestyle and that we as individuals should decide what is cool and acceptable and not the media. Here are some tools I use to decrease consumerism in our home.

Tools To Decrease Consumerism

1. Start the process early by teaching through example. If you want your child to shy from consumerism, the adults in the home must do the same. Give your child the basics to live in material comfort but refrain from buying trendy toys, gadgets... just to keep up with the neighbors. A child will not feel cheated if his days are filled with enjoyment and the company of loving people.

2. Educate you children the importance of making valuable choices on consumerism to help preserve the environment. A child should learn the basics of making the purchased items and the amount of waste compiled before the item is used. They should also learn where the unused purchased items go and the problem it is causing on our environment.

3. Reuse as many items as possible. Clothes that are two small can be made into a keepsakes quilt for the child.

4. Recycle in your neighborhood programs. An item that is of no use of you can be someone else's treasure.

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