Pushing Back on Materialism 2
This week we’re looking at ways to challenge the materialism that marks our lifestyles as we prepare for Christmas. Let me encourage you to tell your kids about Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, who started his organization after…
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Pushing Back on Materialism 1
Since the Christmas season is a chance for our materialistic bent to shine, this week I’m suggesting strategies for leading your kids out of these dangerous and disobedient attitudes. Out of sight, out of mind might be the cliché that…
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Brands and Kids
One youth culture trend that reveals just how much the adolescent pressures of past generations have filtered down to the youngest of children, is the obsession our children have over clothing and appearance. Fueled by effective marketing, clothing brands have…
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The Money We Spend on Our Kids
With our kids being back in school and the school year now a month or so into full swing, it bears mentioning that this last year, parents spent an average of eight-hundred and forty-three dollars per child on back-to-school shopping.…
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Kids Who Have Too Much
If we relentlessly pursue “the American Dream” and the desire to pass the material benefits of the good life on to our kids, bad things happen. Experts who work with kids who have been given too much by their parents…
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Marketing and “Cool”
A recent survey from Piper Sandler reveals that the Apple iPhone is increasingly the smartphone of choice among teenagers. In fact, the number of teens who want to buy an iPhone in the next twelve months is at an all-time…
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Teens and Personal Finance
Thanks to the crisis in college student loan debt, seventeen states are now requiring high school students to complete a course in personal finance and money management. While we applaud these efforts to instill in teens one of the most…
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Idolatry of Wealth
Somehow, some way, materialism is always able to sneak into our lives to steal our time, our thoughts, our energy, and our resources. Our contemporary culture encourages the worship of material things. Your parental example sends a loud and clear…
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