Why do people spend so much on their children?

They get so many things, like water speakers, top of the line gel manicure kits, and 100 dollar aeropostale gift cards from their aunts, gifts from their older siblings that are in their 20s, and like iphones, clothes from victorias secret pink (expensive clothes), clarisonics ($120 is the cheapest model), and a lot of stocking stuffers and more from all family members. Everyone else's parents pay for everything even like 100 dollar abercrombie jeans and they go to the mall every weekend to spend like $500. They also get manicures very often, with parents money of course. I'm so jealous of everyone because in daily life, I have to pay for my own clothes and everything except for some food. I have to pay for my shampoo, cereal, snacks and more. I'm 13. For christmas, I usually get $50 from my aunt and then a CD from my parents, no stocking stuffers, no clothes, nothing. My friends and people I know think my life is weird because I have a small house and a simpler life and they call my life "child abuse" even though i know it is clearly not child abuse what so ever. I'm very thankful that i do have a roof to live under and I do have a family that cares for me. I know christmas and birthdays are not for the gifts, but why do children nowadays get so much?

Because parents think that's what their children need. They want their children to be happy and that's how they are going to achieve it, most of the time it works. Your parents are a little bit tight, by making you pay for food and other essentials, but it seems like your not making too much of a fuss about it you've got what you need.
:-)

Some of it is the idea that "everyone else is doing it"--other parents are giving those things, other kids have those things. Some of it is to compensate for not being able to be good parents, I think, which is something that so many people have trouble with in our society, both because they didn't have good parents themselves and because things are changing so fast.

Also, life in our society today is centered around material things and increasingly developed technology. Big business makes sure, through advertising and other means, that we're all thinking about material things as much as possible. There's not a whole lot of other things being promoted and developed, and that leaves a void, so people fill the void up with material goods, hoping they will make them happy.

Because society today doesn't know how to say I love you without spending money. I grew up in a household just like you, we got a little more for Christmas than that but I bought everything right up to my school clothes and supplies from the time I was 12. I always felt the same way that you feel now. Now that I've moved out of my house and am going to college, I'm happy I was raised in a home where I was constantly told I was loved and I wasn't spoiled with toys and money. I know the value of money, and everything I have I earned by myself. At the end of the day, I would choose the way I was raised over any other way.

Because parents think that's what their children need.

They have the money. Price is no deterrence. Upper 10%. I wouldn't do any of that. That would spoil him and keep him from being independent. It would cause disappoint as life isn't always easy. I do my thing. I guess if they have the $, they follow their group in accordance with peer pressure and values. Sounds like coastal not Midwest.