I just read an article that lists the cities with the most "spoiled" kids and I wanted to see reaction of folks here. I guess I'm hard pressed to call kids spoiled when their family's socio-economic status is different than those in other cities.
What do you think? My city wasn't even on the list.
http://living.msn.com/family-parenting/the-family-room-blog-post?post=dbca8db2-83ef-4a4f-b25d-8380b1b7b94f
squash / 13764 posts
Ha, we're #2...and I'm not surprised! Although, I have to question how they define spoiled--the article seem to think of it as "most money spent on a child". But when I think of spoiled, I think of attuitude characteristics (selfish, ungrateful, bratty, etc). You can have name brand stuff up the wazoo and be a super sweet, well adjusted kid.
ETA that the more I read, the more it annoys me...talk about assumptions! That just because a city is higher on the list, parents are buying "$500 burberry jackets"? Just as an example, NYC has a very high cost of living, and a lot of couples are dual income families, meaning that daycare/childcare is a necessity and it's going to cost more. As for baby gear, most NYC parents walk to get to where they need to go, which necessitates a better quality stroller (which is often more expensive) than you would need if you're mainly driving places. And there's a huge range of incomes in NYC--the very very wealthy, who put their kids in private school from day 1, are likely skewing the results somewhat. Just seems like a lot of assumptions to be making!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Haha we're #7 on the list. I'm from #8. Sounds about right 
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
@hilsy85: Exactly why I took issue with the word "spoiled". Rather than put some kind of negative lens on the research. Instead they should have just said, "in these cities families spend the most on their kids."
AND, they should have controlled for cost-of-living.
persimmon / 1202 posts
When I saw the graph in another article, it said that it was based on the amount spent per child in toy stores. Which would be a better overall judge than COL related measures. And Madison being last really only makes sense by that measure. Madison isn't poor - they just have a LOT of outdoor rec available.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
Here's the methodology, " we examined spending by households with children at stores that sell toys, clothing and other services for tots, kids, and teens. We identified all locations for which Bundle.com had a reasonable sample size, and determined the average spend by these households over the past three years. Then we ranked cities based on the percentage spend above or below the U.S. average."
Sounds like it was broader than just toy stores.
persimmon / 1202 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: Yeah, just a bit. *blush* That's what I get for not reading both articles (the other was shorter.)
grapefruit / 4671 posts
No surprise about NYC being top of teh list. I don't know if kids here are more spoiled though, everything costs more. They really do need to account for that. Besides, spending a ton of money on a kid doesn't equal the kid being spoiled. Bizarre study IMO.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
My city was not on the list but Chapel Hill was. I'm not surprised that larger cities would show higher numbers. In large cities or cities where you have a concentrated area of people, you have more boutique shops that you don't see as often in other towns/cities. For example, my town doesn't even have a Babies R Us. You go into Raleigh and you have a Babies R Us and maybe a few boutique shops but you really have to hunt them down to find them.
@hilsy85: I think in this case, spoiled = money spent on a child. True about the stroller, they don't take into account that people in NYC may not have cars that they pay for monthly, yet they may have nicer strollers and take public transportation, which certainly don't cost as much as a car.
I take these types of articles with a grain of salt. It's interesting to read this and then this article I read this morning:
Cities with the widest gap between rich and poor. NYC was at the top of that list, as well. I bet the folks who aren't in that top 7% aren't spending as much.... http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/06/12013442-the-states-with-the-widest-gap-between-rich-and-poor?lite
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
My city is on the list. I do believe that some kids in my community are spoiled. Practically all the cars in the high school parking lot are brand new.
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Yeah, I do think they should have normalized it to show cost of living.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
Even though the cost of living is higher, I'm sure there ARE a lot of spoiled kids living in NYC! Should it be #1? That I don't know.
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
Atlanta is 7 on the list . . . I am sure we have our share. But I totally agree with @MediaGirl, i.e., to take all of this with a grain of salt. It's just so difficult to know how much of the dollars per child is for standard care (food, daycare, healthcare, etc.) versus stuff for extras (like iPads, nice cars, etc.) . . . and several outliers (in any one category) could really skew the results.
squash / 13764 posts
I just don't like the way that they're defining "spoiled" I guess. I agree with @Mrs. Jacks: that it should have been "cities where the most money is spent on children"
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
@Hilsy85: As an attorney, I rarely like the way a term is defined. 
To me, *spoiled* is not determined by the amount of money spent on a child . . . it has so much more to do with the way in which the spending is done, and the attitude of the child.
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