Baby Boom?
So what is up with this baby boom? No less than 12 couples I know personally, either just had or are having babies. I've been to five baby showers this year. The checkers at Costco must be wondering why I keep showing up with armfuls of baby clothes.
Being the contrarian I am, I'm not having a kid as a 30ish-40ish woman. Nope, no more strollers for me. Just nice uninterrupted sleep. My contribution to the propagation of the human species happenned in my 20s. I guess I'm just an impatient person.
It's almost scary how the marketeers have zeroed in on my son. He just graduated from high school, and we've gotten six!! credit card offers for him. We have gotten several catalogs geared towards the furnishing of his hypothetical dorm room (actually some of it is kind of cool). And let's not forget the military, they are recruiting kids to "be all you can be". When they are 18, your kid no longer needs your permission to join up.
My son is reasonably computer saavy and aware of the privacy issues. So he adopted a alias online. Problem is that he didn't do a very good job of it and so we get two of everything (except the credit card offers), one with his name and one for Mike Rotch ... get it, Mi KRotch, ha ha. Ok, so it is only funny to a 16 year old boy.
Makes you wonder, how much more sophisticated the marketeers will be, when the current baby crop reaches 18. Just think about it. The schools, which surely will continue to be underfunded, will sell information about the students to corporations. Little Jimmy will be categorized on his strengths (not good at math, but very good at art), and activities (likes basketball, let's send him an ad for Nikes). Heck they aren't going to wait until he's 18. Kids are sophisticated consumers in their own right.. right now.
As Scott once said, you have no privacy, get over it .... Seems like he is right.
- Kathy
