My mother was the only child of holocaust survivors and I can say she wasn’t spoiled by her parents. My grandmother was sick most of the time(and therefore unable to take care of her) and my grandfather tried to eke out a living. My grandfather came to this country with a dollar in his pocket. They were not wealthy. My grandparents didn’t have spare money for extras. In fact, my parents got married in a friends apartment. They did not have money for a wedding in a hall. They had some close family and a rabbi.
In turn my parents did not spoil us either. My father had a store that sold a few toys. I rarely got anything from the store. I hardly had any toys or games growing up. Anything I did get, was from winning a prize from Shabbat classes in shul. My parents did not give us allowance. I got paid some money from sometimes working in my dad’s store or earned it babysitting. I don’t believe in giving allowance to my own children. I feel that they need to work for it and realize that the money doesn’t come easy and they will appreciate things more when they earn it, rather then when they are given things. I feel that as long as my children’ basic needs are provided for, like food and clothing, then they don’t need extras.
As some one mentioned the Silly Bandz fad , which are nothing more then glorified rubberbands, I am not getting them for my girls and can’t believe how much people are spending on wearable rubberbands for their kids. In my opinion,they are a waste, and have explained to my kids, they are in fact just plain, silly, rubber bands and you know what?? they understood.