Is Gen Alpha the 'gimme' generation? Why young kids are so into shopping — and what parents are doing about it.

Yahoo

2 days ago

Brianna White's daughters were just toddlers the first time the Amazon catalog arrived at their house. It was part of their usual mail delivery — they weren't asked to subscribe, nor was it preceded by an opt-in email — and when White's children asked what it was, she told them 'it was a book of toys you can get for Christmas.'
'We thought it was cute,' White tells Yahoo Life. 'You know, a millennial moment where all of our shopping was done through a catalog.' Two years later, the experience is so memorable that her oldest child recently asked when 'the fun book in the mail for Christmas would be here,' White laughs.
Though Amazon is technically prohibited from advertising directly to children under the age of 13, the commerce giant's annual end-of-year guide in 2024 had more than 600 toy and gift suggestions for kids, as well as coloring pages, stickers and QR codes for easy wish-list adding or purchasing. And though White's children are aware they are limited to three toys each from Santa, they still ask if they can 'tell Santa we want everything.'
At 5, 3½ and 18 months old, White's children are part of Generation Alpha — kids born between 2010 and 2024 — who are increasingly influential players when it comes to the discretionary spending of their households. A recent study from Morning Consult found that nearly 75% of parents to Gen Alpha offspring reported their children informed at least some of the family's grocery and toy purchases; more than 45% said their kids also play a role in determining what electronics they buy; and for nearly 60%, it's clothes shopping.
That same report found half of children age 11 and under are spending at least four hours every day on social media, where they are being exposed to constant advertisements, influencer shopping content (like 'haul' videos) and the nonstop pressures of being on trend. TikTok is rife with so-called Sephora kids pleading for beauty shopping sprees, along with stories from parents of children maxing out their parents' credit cards or running up an unsanctioned $1,000 Amazon bill online thanks to easy access to the site's simple checkout process.
In an interview with Yahoo Life, Claire Tassin, a retail and e-commerce analyst who coauthored the Morning Consult report, describes the constant exposure to consumerism as 'feeding into the central nervous system' of kids who are vulnerable to persuasion. And though children making purchasing requests is hardly novel — who among us parents hasn't negotiated at the store over snacks and toys conveniently placed near checkout? — caregivers are also navigating the related behavioral struggles of managing expectations, the rise of their kids spending time online or in front of the TV, and the growth of popular fast-fashion shopping websites notorious for labor violations, waste and poor quality.
There's also the perennial struggle of parents to manage the endless stream of stuff in the home that becomes clutter. That can be tricky with young shoppers who tend to buy based on trend rather than on staying power or personal style. 'It's amazing how quickly they catch on' to consumerism, White says of her own kids. 'Any time an Amazon box gets delivered, they run to the door and ask what we got them.' She and her husband insist that their children be in the habit of making toy donations. Still, Tassin says, she doesn't see anything in the data suggesting a collective attempt to U-turn the trend of an increasingly shopping-obsessed culture, so parents like White are on their own when it comes to educating their children about responsible purchasing and sustainability.
Deb Mamuti, a 36-year-old international student and scholar adviser in Tuscaloosa, Ala., has just instituted a no-new-toys rule for her son, Adrian, who is 3. Shopping together in some capacity is a regular part of their life — as it often is for parents of young children when it comes time to get groceries or run weekend errands — and Adrian loves the specific experience of sitting in the cart and spending time with his mom. But about a year ago, he began noticing the toys section while shopping — 'Target is strategic; they put [the toys] very close to the diapers,' Mamuti tells Yahoo Life — and after getting into the habit of buying $7 or $8 cars for Adrian, she and her husband noticed an uptick in tantrumlike behavior.
Mamuti says Adrian would cry because they hadn't purchased the 'right' toy or 'the one he wanted,' and the experience 'was a big wake-up call,' she admits. Though she had been in the habit of stocking up on toy cars to dole out as occasional surprises, she wound up returning her stash to the store. Now, she's found that Adrian plays best when his toys are organized (and therefore easier to see and sort) rather than when he has to wade through a big pile. They've also introduced a conversation about quality, and how they won't be buying things that will fall apart after only a few uses. 'He's young, but he gets it,' she says. They plan on keeping the moratorium until probably through the end of the summer. In the meantime, Mamuti has found Adrian able to enjoy what he already owns, especially the more open-ended toys like Magna-Tiles and Legos that offer a function and require creativity and imagination.
Parents of older children are, unfortunately, forced to contend with more aggressive sales tactics by businesses. Jennifer Clark, a social media manager in the Chicago suburbs, remembers the day her now 7-year-old daughter, Flannery, was watching Bluey on Disney+ when she asked whether an American Girl doll commercial was 'a targeted ad.' Both Clark and her husband work in marketing, so Flannery absorbs the vocabulary they use. But Clark says her daughter's first instinct is to still take commercial claims as gospel.
'She's like, 'Do we have Finish dishwasher cleaner?' and I'm like, 'I don't know, it's whatever Costco has on sale.' And she's like, 'Oh, it says this commercial said it was the best,'' Clark tells Yahoo Life. 'We've had to explain commercials are for selling things, and that doesn't mean they are the best,' she adds.
To teach her children the value of their money — Clark also has a 10-year-old son — she and her husband give them a weekly allowance, in cash, based on their ages and chores. 'I prefer them having the visibility of cash ... something they can feel and touch,' she says. Tassin agrees with this approach, citing the distinction between a crisp, birthday $20 bill from Grandma and the more nebulous, slippery slope of spending money you can't physically see. Responsible spending habits start young, and 'the farther we are from actually seeing the finiteness of our money,' Tassin explains, 'the easier it is just to say, 'I'll just charge it and figure it out later.''
Natalie Miller is a mom and small-business owner who owns and produces her own sustainable jewelry line. In addition to incorporating 'slow fashion' into her business, Miller is steadfast in how she incorporates it into parenting. Her social media accounts self-identify her as a 'thrifter' and are full of photos and videos of the items she buys secondhand for her family — including decor and birthday gifts. It's little wonder that her 5-year-old son has come to seek out a good estate sale. 'I was raised thrifting. My mom's a thrifter,' Miller says. 'I have loved secondhand items for as long as I can remember.'
Though Tassin's Morning Consult report identifies, among other things, the rise of fast-fashion names such as Temu — which didn't exist three years ago but is now one of the most-requested brands by Gen Alpha — Miller is careful to emphasize quality and sustainability when talking to her son about shopping. 'We live in a capitalist society where things are made fast,' she acknowledges, and they have conversations about microplastics and the environment. The fact that they reside in progressive Portland, Ore., means that sustainability is simply part of how their community operates, and Miller and her husband are intentionally explicit about their family's monthly budget.
'He would love to accumulate infinite things,' Miller says of her son; he is a child with childlike tendencies, after all. But by turning the process of thrifting into a story — what life did this item have before it found us? — and encouraging her son to be true to what he loves, Miller is proud of his mindful approach to consumption.
Tassin endorses the latter technique in particular. 'Talk to your kid about 'why do you like this?'' she says. ''What does it make you feel?'' she prompts. The external forces driving spending habits are only accelerating as each generation ages into consumerism. 'You've got to pick and choose what's for you and what isn't,' Tassin urges.