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RESOLVED: Geez...my spoiled daughter was disappointed when I gave her a new 11" MBA!

dmk1974 said:
I got it as an open-box at Best Buy so after my RZ certs and tax, it was "only" about $720. Figure selling off her white MB would be about a wash then.

No kidding though! When she almost immediately said she didn't want it, I was like, what the hell? Now, I suppose if my Dad (who's 64) bought me a nice Windows laptop for some reason and he thought he was being really great about it, I'd give a nicer reaction, even though that Windows laptop doesn't at all suit my needs vs my MBP.
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Good thing you didn't give her one of those, she might of smashed it to pieces. (just kidding)

BTW, get used to it. Soon she will be expecting the bucks with the same sort of reactions. Ain't gonna get cheaper; (unless you fake your own death and make a clean break NOW)
 
She is probably just pissed that she can't burn porn to disc and share with her friends.

She really sounds like a spoilt brat who doesn't appeciate the value of money, nice parenting skills there, wonder what she will be like when she hits her teens and wants money for Ketamin.
 
JusChexin said:
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Why does everyone keep calling this seven year old girl a brat? While I believe a MacBook Air is a ridiculous thing for a seven year old girl, you can't fault her for not knowing or understanding its worth. Furthermore, when you're a kid you value your possessions more and for a longer period of time. How many childhood toys did you have that you weren't ready to part with until many years later? Her MacBook is only a year old (3 years newer than mine, lol) She's a kid -- she should be commended for wanting to keep what she has, rather than junking it for the next shiny new thing. That shows me more positive vales in a seven year old than one who is ready to throw her things in the trash after a year. Just saying! :)
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I have to admit that I thought her initial reaction was bratty, but she's actually a really good kid. And I agree with you as well that I think it's great that she knows what she wants and was pretty firm in stating that what she had worked perfectly fine for her.

We'll see how it is tonight or tomorrow after she's had a day or so with the MBA. TimeMachine and migration assistant make it so easy!
 
wrkactjob said:
She is probably just pissed that she can't burn porn to disc and share with her friends.

She really sounds like a spoilt brat who doesn't appeciate the value of money, nice parenting skills there, wonder what she will be like when she hits her teens and wants money for Ketamin.
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The money value really means nothing to her...it could have been $10 or $10,000. It's the item and how it works for her though. Then again, I could just take it away all together, but I don't want her using my MBP :)
 
Seven year olds tell it like it is...

They are not weighted down by emotions and feelings.
 
JusChexin said:
She's a kid -- she should be commended for wanting to keep what she has, rather than junking it for the next shiny new thing.
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It wasn't because she "wanted" to keep it. It was because it didn't have a CD drive. I bet she would've taken a new MBP. :p
 
buy her $300 desktop and put that in the living room so that you can supervise her using a computer.

OP, seriously, due all respect, what are you thinking?
 
I have two boys (9 and 13), and any time we get that kind of indignant reaction, we return it to the store immediately and use it as a lesson that they should be grateful for what they get - in one case a few years ago we even took it further and donated something they complained about to charity, with the explanation of "let's see if less fortunate people are going to whine and complain about the colour, or if they'll be grateful just to get something more then what they already have". It's all too easy for kids to take their good fortunes for granted.

They're still kids, and will still be a bit pukey at times - but the more we take that type of approach with them, the more they tend to appreciate what they have and be grateful.
 
People have different opinions on raising kids.
If your child has a gift and you discover he plays piano like Mozart would you not support it and buy best piano you can afford ?
If your child is really great at sports and liked Tennis, you would not get him/her the best available teacher ?
Just because you grew up a certain way does not mean your kid should grow up like that.
 
Soon as I read "Seven" I stopped caring. I think its stupid to buy a seven year old a laptop like that...Hey but whatever... everyone parents differently... thats why some people are quite spoiled and act like brats. Hence you yourself even calling your own child spoiled.

edit: The way I was brought up... if we didnt respect somebody... for what they did as a kind gesture I would have had the item removed or items removed from me until I would learn to respect my things more and the effort that went into getting them for me.

For example, if I had complained If I received a game from one of my parents (this happened when I was around 7 too) I remember one time I complained because it wasnt the right one and I was huffy. So... they took it back to the store and then used the money to buy me clothes instead!

Worst day ever ! :(

But seriously.. if your kids dont respect you they just grow up to control you..
 
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Even if you can rip music and films onto the laptop for her, kids like being able to do things for themselves. Requiring your help to watch movies or listen to music probably feels like a regression in maturity to her, much like if you suddenly started brushing her teeth for her again.

If you taught her how to rip media herself or just got her a superdrive, I'm sure she'd come to appreciate the air. Of course, since the baseline model doesn't have much hard drive space, it wouldn't be too long until she ran out of room for movies and stuff anyway.

Also, as a kid I always had trouble adjusting to change, so that's another thing to consider.
 
dmk1974 said:
My daughter has a 2010 white MacBook (latest model...as of today) that has the warranty expiring soon. So, instead of buying the AppleCare, I thought I'd be a great Dad and surprise her with a new 11" base model MacBook Air (and then sell the MacBook).

I give it too her yesterday thinking she'd like it (since she said she thought they were cool at the local Apple Store last week), but after like 15 seconds, she says she doesn't want it because there's no disc drive in it for music and DVDs. I told her that I can rip those and just put the file on the MBA or whatever, but then still said that she needs that (despite all the other benefits of the newer and lighter MBA).

For my use, my 2011 MBP is better than an MBA, but clearly I'm not listening to the voice of the customer/user in this case! But geez...she's SEVEN! She is really smart and detailed and knows what she wants, but I see myself taking my son on weekend getaways every month starting in a few years or so from now :)
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She sounds like she is a smart cookie for a seven year old. I applaud her. She knew what kind of device she wanted and could explain it to you. She wanted a device with a disc drive. She wanted to be able to control it and play her music and movies as quickly as possible and when she wanted it. Why should she have to wait for a parent, no matter how well intentioned, to rip DVDs and load up files?

And what would be the point of getting a lot of add on accessories to make the MBA into the device she already has?

And there is no way that this kid is a brat. She didn't demand a new machine or whine or cry because she did not get what she wanted.

Newer and lighter is not a benefit if the device doesn't do what you want. And it is very smart of her to be able to separate the notion of what is cool from what is useful.

Sound like you've got some great kids there.

And yeah, people can even learn things from seven year olds.
 
ri0ku said:
Soon as I read "Seven" I stopped caring. How stupid to buy a seven year old a laptop like that...Hey but whatever... everyone parents differently... thats why some people are quite spoiled and act like brats. Hence you yourself even calling your own child spoiled.
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I'll absolutely admit that there are areas that I spoil her...at least when benchmarked against other kids. I gave her a computer when she was 3 with all the learning games and so on and in my opinion, that kind of stuff put her well ahead of the curve in school and compared to other kids her age. She does real well in school, sports, and is extremely creative and outgoing. So from my standpoint, "spoiling" her in select areas has had a huge benefit in her growth.

On the other hand, I do agree that it does sometimes lead to "expectations" from the kid. I absolutely do take stuff away or shut off her internet access or make her do extra chores or whatever. All the fun of parenting, right?

I see some parents and friends that I swear don't get their kids into any extracurricular activities and probably neglect them let them sit in a room all day with a cardboard box. Some of those kids I swear should be held back and get more help. But whatever, at least they aren't spoiling them, right?
 
dmk1974 said:
I'll absolutely admit that there are areas that I spoil her...at least when benchmarked against other kids. I gave her a computer when she was 3 with all the learning games and so on and in my opinion, that kind of stuff put her well ahead of the curve in school and compared to other kids her age. She does real well in school, sports, and is extremely creative and outgoing. So from my standpoint, "spoiling" her in select areas has had a huge benefit in her growth.

On the other hand, I do agree that it does sometimes lead to "expectations" from the kid. I absolutely do take stuff away or shut off her internet access or make her do extra chores or whatever. All the fun of parenting, right?

I see some parents and friends that I swear don't get their kids into any extracurricular activities and probably neglect them let them sit in a room all day with a cardboard box. Some of those kids I swear should be held back and get more help. But whatever, at least they aren't spoiling them, right?
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I agree with what your saying.. get them things and every single parent is guilty of spoiling their kids at some point. But an extremely expensive laptop to replace an already quite expensive laptop for a seven year old? I mean what does she do on a laptop at that age that requires that? I think when I was seven I used a PC to play some kids games.. and probably to use an encyclopedia program... I think their are more important things that sort of money can be spent on for a seven year old. If she needs a laptop by all means get her one.. but does she need something like that? at that cost?

I dont know.. I was taught and brought up to respect people and objects and how much hard work would be put into getting something even much less expensive than a macbook air...
 
singlestick said:
She sounds like she is a smart cookie for a seven year old. I applaud her. She knew what kind of device she wanted and could explain it to you. She wanted a device with a disc drive. She wanted to be able to control it and play her music and movies as quickly as possible and when she wanted it. Why should she have to wait for a parent, no matter how well intentioned, to rip DVDs and load up files?

And what would be the point of getting a lot of add on accessories to make the MBA into the device she already has?

And there is no way that this kid is a brat. She didn't demand a new machine or whine or cry because she did not get what she wanted.

Newer and lighter is not a benefit if the device doesn't do what you want. And it is very smart of her to be able to separate the notion of what is cool from what is useful.

Sound like you've got some great kids there.

And yeah, people can even learn things from seven year olds.
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Thanks. Kids really do pick up on stuff quickly at younger ages. I recall one time we were at a Best Buy or an Apple store along with my mother-in-law when she was six and my daughter was showing her features and differences between the iPod Touch and iPad 1. Pretty funny that a 6 year old had a strong grasp on something that a woman in her upper 60's didn't know too much about.
 
dmk1974 said:
My daughter has a 2010 white MacBook (latest model...as of today) that has the warranty expiring soon. So, instead of buying the AppleCare, I thought I'd be a great Dad and surprise her with a new 11" base model MacBook Air (and then sell the MacBook).
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Accept the mistake.
Return the MBA.
Buy the AppleCare.
She's happy.
You're happy.
Your credit card's happy.
Problem solved.

And yes, I'm completely serious.
 
jackc said:
See if she likes the belt and no food for a week.
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lolz
johndoejohndoes said:
She's 7! I'm sorry if I sound rude, but she seems like a brat. You (an awesome Dad) just spent at least $1000 on a MBA and she somehow is "complaining" about it. If anything you can get a usb cd/dvd drive from Apple for $80. But that's sickening to hear. There's nothing a 7 year old does that an Air isn't capable of doing. Where has the R-E-S-P-E-C-T gone?
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get the super drive or return the MBA and let her enjoy the older macbook or tell her that there's always the iTunes store and the mac app store digital is the future there really isn't much of a need for an optical drive any more. if you really need one get a usb to optical drive.

Robosagogo said:
Even if you can rip music and films onto the laptop for her, kids like being able to do things for themselves. Requiring your help to watch movies or listen to music probably feels like a regression in maturity to her, much like if you suddenly started brushing her teeth for her again.

If you taught her how to rip media herself or just got her a superdrive, I'm sure she'd come to appreciate the air. Of course, since the baseline model doesn't have much hard drive space, it wouldn't be too long until she ran out of room for movies and stuff anyway.

Also, as a kid I always had trouble adjusting to change, so that's another thing to consider.
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iTunes and the mac app store solve this issue and avoid lots of hassle.

It doesnt really matter she is 7 she's not doing any intensive work. if storage becomes a concern get an external drive to connect to the mba when your on the go put some movies on the mba or connect to a computer at home that has the movies.
 
Also, and I didn't mean to leave this out, she came home from the local library about 10 minutes after I got home from work to show it to her. She had 3 discs (1 was a movie) that she wanted to play on her white MacBook. Probably part of why she wasn't happy at that time (since I was already in the middle of migrating her settings over).

I rarely ever use discs in my MBP, but I neglected that she may want to use programs or music and movies from the library (which is a building that I almost never go to).
 
dmk1974 said:
Also, and I didn't mean to leave this out, she came home from the local library about 10 minutes after I got home from work to show it to her. She had 3 discs (1 was a movie) that she wanted to play on her white MacBook. Probably part of why she wasn't happy at that time (since I was already in the middle of migrating her settings over).

I rarely ever use discs in my MBP, but I neglected that she may want to use programs or music and movies from the library (which is a building that I almost never go to).
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Don't worry, we don't think your one of those weak, ineffectual parents who's children walk all over them, and who's heading for the couch or worse. We don't think this.
 
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