Do you ever feel overwhelmed by advertising? I know I do. I have taken to driving to school without listening to anything but the mighty roar of the blue Laser in a bid to have some ad-free time. If I am feeling like it is a lot as an adult, imagine how kids go. In the 1970s, it is reported that a person saw between 500 and 1600 ads per day. Fast forward to 2007 and it was up to 5000 ads per day. In 2020? Between 6,000 and 10,000 ads every single day. (Carr, 2020)  Advertising seems to be constantly trying to convince me that I need this thing or that thing. It tries to convince me that what I have isn’t enough and that I will somehow live a more fulfilled life if I get this or that and that I need more than I have now.  I was reading this week about how we live in a deficit society, where we can’t ever think we have enough.  One author put it this way, “For me, and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is ‘I didnt get enough sleep.’ The next one is ‘I don't have enough time.’ Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, or worrying about what we don't have enough of... Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we're already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds are racing with a litany of what we didn't get, or didn't get done, that day. We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to that reverie of lack. . .” (Twist, 2003)

As I have reflected on these thoughts this week, I have come to the conclusion that one of the best ways to help our children, (and ourselves) is to cultivate a sense of contentment and gratitude. Being grateful and content with the many blessings they (us) have, gives them (us) a lens to view the advertising barrage that tells them (us) they (we) are in deficit and in need of all sorts of things. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we should encourage our children to just settle for the the status quo or mediocrity in their dreams and studies. What I am saying is that when they are truly grateful for the wonderful blessings they have, our children are far more able to make sense of the constant calls to need more if they are to be satisfied, and that what they have, somehow determines who they are.

Why not start a tea table tradition of each person in the family saying one thing they are grateful for today. It certainly changes one’s perspective from continually focusing on what we don’t have. I love the way Jesus put it in one of his greatest speeches, “The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” Matthew 6: 21 The Message

Have a great week with you kids,

Mark B