Teaching Your Preschooler to Resist Marketing

When my daughter was born, I told myself that I would never allow her to develop the degree of brand-obsession that I saw in other children. Everywhere I looked, I saw a toddler or preschooler having a tantrum for a Spongebob shirt or a Disney princess toy. I didn't want to battle corporations for my child's mind and soul, so I took several steps to help her resist marketing.

Despite my best efforts, there are a few brands that my preschooler has become attached to. Even without ever seeing Thomas the Tank Engine, Pixar's Cars, or Clifford the Big Red Dog on TV, she developed a fascination for the brands and images connected to these characters. However, she has a greater resistance to kids' marketing than I have seen in most children her age.

Here are some guidelines for helping preschoolers resist marketing.

1. Limit your preschooler's TV time. A child under the age of five should watch no more than one hour of TV each day. Excessive exposure to television will not only discourage creativity and exercise; it will also cause your preschooler to become overly attached to specific shows, characters and products. Watch TV with your child so that you can help her to understand the TV shows and commercials.

2. Don't model materialism. If you buy your child a material gift on a regular basis, he will learn to equate consumerism with feeling good. This is particularly true if you indulge a specific brand-obsession, such as buying your child a My Little Pony toy every week. If you want to bond with your child, take her out for pizza and conversation, not a free-for-all trip to the toy store.

3. Support the right brands. Some degree of brand loyalty is ultimately inevitable, so try to encourage your child's love of respectable companies. My preschooler adores childrens' characters such as Amelia Bedelia, Biscuit, the Lorax, Thomas the Tank Engine and Clifford the Big Red Dog. I don't mind these brand-obsessions because they linked to educational book series and not as harmful as a loyalty to unproductive TV shows or toys.

4. Teach giving. Your preschooler will be less prone to marketing if she understands the value of immaterial gifts. Volunteer with your child at a local nursing home, animal shelter or community garden. Give a donation or wildlife adoption to your child as a birthday gift or Christmas present. By teaching your child altruism, you enable her to understand the value of giving rather than receiving. As a result, she is less likely to become fixate on brands, marketing and consumerism.

5. Go thrifty. If you feel an urge to take your preschooler on a shopping trip, why not visit the thrift store instead of the mall? If you model thrift, you teach your child to appreciate a good bargain rather than an item itself. When I take my preschooler to the thrift store, I tell her that she can have five books, and one toy costing less than a dollar. For less than three dollars, we both get an enjoyable shopping experience and a greener, less consumerist treat. Use the opportunity to explain the ecological and humanitarian benefits of supporting local thrift stores.

It's only natural that your preschool-age child will ask for an occasional toy, book or movie from a specific brand or company. While you can't completely eliminate your child's exposure to consumer culture, you can help to guide her so that she can resist the companies that market to her age group.