Not long ago, a study of British child-rearing practices suggested that the UK's kiddies are near the bottom of the barrel. Now we hear that impoverishment of Britain's brats is in fact a blessing incognito. It's material things like warm clothes, safe toys and proper healthcare that may be ruining life for John Bull's boyos.
The BBC reports: "Some 89% of adults think children are more materialistic than ever."
Most adults in the UK believe that children's well-being is being damaged because childhood has become too commercial, a lifestyle poll has found.
Some 89% of adults in the GfK nop survey of 1, 255 people believed today's children were more materialistic than previous generations" The BMS(British Millionaires Society) spokesperson Lord Richard Filthy concurred: "These children are greedy, greedy, greedy!"
The Children's Society said adults had to "Take responsibility for the current level of marketing to children"
Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the society, said: "A crucial question raised by the inquiry is whether childhood should be a space where developing minds are free from concentrated sales techniques.
"To accuse children of being materialistic in such a culture is a cop-out, " he said.
Children should be encouraged to value themselves for who they are as people rather than what they own, Dr Rowan Williams observed: "Why must the wee-people be so like their parents?"
The children's market is worth an estimated £30bn a year.
