We owe it to our kids

The commercialization of childhood is everywhere, it cannot be escaped. Large corporations offer - or more accurately force-feed - children a mind-boggling amount of shiny and loud toys, tv programs (commercials on Treehouse should be banned), online activities, unhealthy foods and hollow virtual relationships.

A typical large corporation's only goal is to make more money. Their goal is not to patiently, gently and lovingly guide and teach children by showing great examples and creating stimulating and creative environments. They try hard every day to increase profits no matter what - even if this means that children are coaxed, tricked, bribed and lured into wanting more of their junk products. This is the nature of capitalism and although it's wrong there is no sense to blame anyone. (Since corporations cannot be blamed for wanting more money, perhaps the government - the only entity that has control over corporations - should intervene.) Each profit driven company's mandate is to make money - not to care for people's well being. In a win-win setup the two outcomes coincide but many times they do not.

There is a reverse relationship between happiness and junk: The more junk children are filled with the emptier they get. It's a rather unfair game: helpless young people against organized greed.

If you don't make decisions for your kids yourself someone else will

Not yet equipped with and accurate sense of right or wrong, children take what they are given as is - they aren't able to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. It's our responsibility to do so. We must make decisions for our children. We will not be correct every time but we'll be correct most of the time. Because our decisions are based on years of experience, research, intuition, the results of trial-and-error and visions of long-term goals weighed against safety, health, practicality, reality, feasibility and cost. Children left to their own devices will be wrong most of the time because they have zero or very little understanding of long-term consequence. They choose what's easy and fun at the present moment.

It is therefore our responsibility to make decisions for our children. It's an obligation not an option. Read out loud: If you don't make decisions for your kids someone else will. Who is "someone else"?