More than $2 billion annually is spent on advertising that is targeted just to children - this represents an increase of 20 times the amount spent only 10 years ago. Children in the 4 to 12 year old categories spent $28.4 billion in 1998 with teens (12-19 years old) shelling out $94 billion.

A professor of marketing at Texas A&M University, James MacNeal has been conducting studies of children's purchasing behavior since 1962. He has noted that the amount of media children are exposed to either through television, computers, written media/advertisements adds up to nearly 40 hours per week.

Parents, children's advocacy groups and many child development specialists are concerned that the intense levels of the advertising focused at these younger children could ultimately affect their psychological health as well as their physical welfare.  Child psychologist are coming forward with concerns about the basic underlying messages that these ads support which could compromise a child's sense of personal growth and identity.

With creativity and ingenuity for this year's holidays maybe you might include the gifts of more time with mom or dad, a gift certificate to a class (art, karate) or lesson. It's easier to be one of the crowd and sit in front of the tube but it can be so much more fun to be unique.