<p>Marketed to, yes certainly, hereshoping, but not when we were children. I often think of my young self back in about 1962, sitting around in the summer reading library books, riding my bike to the library for more, playing outside with friends. I wasn’t increasing any company’s earnings! I wasn’t buying sports shoes or equipment or playing on a team (no sports for girls), I wasn’t purchasing books, and I wasn’t spending much time in front of TV advertisements (not until late afternoon and I Love Lucy, that is, and I remember the ads being more about toilet paper and detergents than anything I really longed for). It’s the current generation of teens that has been so vastly exploited by marketers, and that is part of the problem we discuss.</p>
<p>Pampered or fawned over? Not in my middle class 1950s-60s childhood. Most of us grew up without a great deal of discretionary family income. Families were bigger and we had to share with siblings. Nobody ever thought of trying to boost our self-esteem in those days (a little boost would have helped me. . .the self-esteem movement didn’t flourish to the point of going overboard until decades later). </p>
<p>Yes, we did become self-absorbed, no doubt about that, I think during our late teens and into adulthood, but that fits into my equation: we baby boomers do what is easiest for us: it’s always easier, at least in the short term, to be lenient with our children.</p>