If you are defined by your mobile phone rather than your beliefs and actions; then you really must be a really vacuous little turnip.

And if you have brought your children up to believe that they are measured (and should measure others) by their possessions, then you really are the pathetically shallow.

Admit it, most will have the same order of importance, or you'd be at another site.

Yewelrey? Wazdat? I remember vaguely getting a watch at 18, misplaced it later and haven't worn one since (why, with pda's and mobiles and ipods functioning as clock AND alarm AND calendar?).

Living in London, obviously cars are a futile thought. And being yoof, they can't afford their own home so why improve the landlord/usurer's den? [Even if it's your own home, "home improvements" are a silly idea with houses so shoddily finished in Britain that they return to dust in about a decade, so why polish this turd?]

And anyways, my PowerBook and EEE are work things, not gadgets, so the premium-cost is as justifiable as my commuting iPod, and 3G phone. With cinemas at 9--14quid, the home theatre is actually saving money. OK, which gadget do I still have to justify? [Not that I actually own most of them.]

>If you are defined by your mobile phone rather than your beliefs and actions; then >you really must be a really vacuous little turnip.

More than correct in the world of grown ups, but you equip your halfling with the cheapest trainers/clothes/possesions and send them into school full of self belief and individualism and see how long it lasts for..

Unless they're 6ft tall or have 75 friends already..

Kids ARE pathetically shallow. Thankfully a lot of them grow out of it

You have to keep up otherwise he'll get bullied and looked down on. This will create psychological problems for his self esteem and he'll grow up with no self worth and turn out to be a loser.

It might not be right but you can't use your kids as social guinea pigs. That's practically child abuse.

btw - It never changes, you will always be judged by the things you own, the job you have, the money you earn, who you hang with and the person you date. It's human nature, we all like to look down on others as it makes us feel better about ourselves.

If people paid attention to the truth - that there is no more real middle-class - and that it has been replaced by a growing debtor-class - the whole issue of 'looking down' on others becomes somewhat of a fool's game. Now speaking for myself - I haven't two pennies to rub together, don't own a house, have no healthcare (I'm American), have no college or car loans to service - Christ - I don't even have a television anymore..

What I DO have is *solvency* - NO debt.

Imagine how fun it is for me to look at the others around me who dare 'look down' at me from the bottom of the holes they've dug themselves into.

I just smile, and walk on..

THAT alone, is the one thing that kids today (who are naturally cynical and rebellious - esp., to the things their parents cling to..) pick up on faster than most adults are comfortable to admit.

Can't tell you how many teenagers over the years I know that have become adults who now avoid credit (as I do) - all the kids need is someone who's cooler than their folks setting the correct example.

You just gotta be more avant-garde than the next guy, that's all.

Deb.