Veruca Salt is Everywhere?

Are kids today more spoiled or is there just more stuff (and more expensive stuff) to clamor for these days?

In elementary school all I really wanted were Hello Kitty trinkets and stickers (especially puffy, moving, googly-eyed stickers). If I had to guess, I’d say that most of the kids in my son’s first grade class have either a Nintendo DS or an ipod or both.

In middle school, designer jeans were all the rage. I remember getting a pair of Sassons (ooh la la Sasson!) for Christmas and being so, so, excited. Today’s girls have similar wants but they all seem to have designer shoes and bags to go with their fancy jeans. At age 12. And what’s in those designer bags? Cell phones and itouches of course!

By high school we wanted cars, but mostly to escape the school bus and for a car’s ability to take us from point A to point B. The high school kid who delivers pizza here (and at least he actually has a job!) drives a BMW.

And, okay, I live in a crazy town but I’m hearing the same thing from friends in all different parts of the country.

So do kids today want (and, in some cases, get) more? Are we raising a generation of voracious consumers? Or has nothing really changed (except my ability to remember details)?

What did you want most as a kid?