Do Your Kids Whine to Get You to Buy/article

House rule:

You whine... you don't get what you want.

Stage 2

You throw a fit... you don't get what you want AND you go on timeout.

Nope, my kids did not and do not whine. They know it isn't an option and it will not get them what they want. I have much more influence on my kids than corp. merchants :)

My children get nothing with whining. They know it, and they know I hate it, so they don't do much of it. In fact, when their friends whine they complain about it!

my kids learned early that whining was just about the worst way to get me to do ANYTHING they wanted.
silence and big puppy dog eyes on the other hand.........
;) khairete
S.

Kids whine.
For centuries.
It is not anything new.

My kids whine sometimes, even if they are decent kids. But they ain't robots. I could say they are perfect, but no kid is.
Kids have all tones of voices... just like a PMS'ing Mom.

If they whine, I tell them NO.
I tell them point blank, whining is SOOOOOOO useless.
If they whine, they have a choice:
1) You will have a "mean" Mommy that turns terse.
2) You will have a nice Mommy if you stop it.
3) It is THEIR choice.

To me, what is worse than whining kids are whining adults.
Like, I am sure we all know at least one in our lives.

My 2 yr old hasn't figured it out yet, but my 5 yr old figured it out by the time he turned 4, that whining is the best way to NOT get what you want in our family. I'm open to options if its asked for respectfully, or if I open the door to negotiating, but it is automatically off the table if that nasally tone is used, or guilt tripping, or whatever. Always.
If my 5 year old wants to do something or go somewhere, he just has to tell me and we'll discuss it. Great chance that we'll work on it if not that day, then very soon, because I'm always open for ideas on fun stuff to do and want to encourage their interests. If he wants something from a store, he will say something like "oooh, look at this" and I will acknowledge it, and if he wants it I'll either say "I'll keep that in mind" (which means not now, but it is a possible gift or reward later)....or I'll say "Is it important enough to buy with your own money?" Things are very rarely important enough for him to buy with his own money---he usually says "nah, just looking" but if he says "Yes" then I'll let him get it. I say "Ok, this is $__, which is ___ days of pay" (he gets an allowance). If he wants it badly enough to buy it himself, then he can get it (within reason, obviously no real gun yet or something not allowed in the house). So no....no whining allowed. And no jerky corporate suit trying to manipulate me or my kids. But yes, I totally believe there's a "science" to marketing. (Things like where they put the cookie shop or pretzel shop in the mall and why, how they put things a little close together because studies show you instinctively turn if something brushes your backside....and have a display right where they expect you to turn, obnoxious carpet patterns on the floors of some casinos to keep your eyes up, so you can see another flashy way to get your attention, how many times they purposely play a song and how they sandwich something that has yet to catch on in between what's been proven to stay on the radio until it does catch on, etc, etc----we've seen those shows that explain how marketing and casinos do their business schemes on the Discovery channel about 8 years ago and it IS interesting to read and think about).

My kids have never really whined that much. Maybe because it never got them anything.
They are too old to whine now (11 & 14) so they will ask me for something every now and again... but it isn't usually about anything they suddenly see and want. It is more stuff that I have allowed them before and I will sometimes get (like junky sweet cereal). They know I rarely buy it, and I will NOT buy it at full price. It has to be on sale BOGO (half price) or a maximum price of $2.50 a box. Then I MIGHT buy it. But if I say "no", they drop it.
I still think that to a large degree it doesn't matter what the marketers do, if you have taught your kids from a young age that begging/whining doesn't get them what they want.
ETA: Good info about the marketing via school "news" and computers, though.

This was an interesting article which covered a wide scope of information I've been focusing on for several years.

I am pretty quick to curb whining. If I am asked twice by a child for something I've already said "no" to, I usually just turn it back to them. "Are you asking me because you think I might change my mind?" Usually, this cues the child in to what they are doing and they say 'yes'. "Well, I've already thought about it, and we are not getting X. I'm all done talking about it."

My son knows that once I'm done talking about it, I'm done talking about it.

Because this (the content in the article) has been on my radar for a very long time (since Neil Postman's "The Disappearance of Childhood" from the early 90s), we are very aware of what we expose Kiddo to. That's been helpful. Now that he's entering kindergarten, we'll see some more of the popular culture seeping in, I'm sure. Just today, he asked me "Mama, have you heard of someone named Justin Beaver?" (I'm sure he thought it was a character from the Uncle Wiggily stories, which makes it all the funnier.)

my daughter is told frequently "mommy can't hear you when you whine" and "no". I can see where corporations would want to take advantage of parents who can't/won't say no, though. Smart of them.

I try to teach my daughter the value of a dollar. She tells me she wants McDonald's for dinner and I tell her "well, if we get McDonald's for dinner, then we can't get a comic book on Wednesday" and she quickly decides she'd rather have her comic book. It's really the difference between two treats, at that point.

But usually "Mommy can't hear you when you whine" works. It helps that I have a hard time hearing the higher pitches, so I really do have a hard time understanding what she says when she whines.

My kids don't whine to get stuff. They know it doesn't work. If there is something they want, like a toy, they know that we look to see if we can find it used first. If we can't find it used, we wait for it to go on sale. Or they can put it on their Christmas or birthday wish list. If we go to McDonalds they know we get items from the dollar menu and water to drink. If they aren't happy with that we won't go to McDonalds. It isn't that we can't afford to buy things, but more that I want my kids to appreciate what they get, learn the value of money, and not feel like they are entitled.

Whining gets my kids no where. Yet they continue to do it....

I didnt read the article, but Im guessing there is something in there about the stupid toys and candy in the check out lane!

That is annoying!

My kids whine for me to give them extra jobs to earn money for what they want. They know I'm not a bank nor will I buy them something just because they "want" it. And they really don't watch commercial tv, so that helps.

The article contains gd info!