Kids Increasingly Use Tech Savvy To Sell Their Holiday Wish Lists
By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Sometimes, when children want something badly enough, miracles start to happen.
Promises of spotless rooms and perfect report cards are made. Letters to Santa are neatly typed and spellchecked. Sullen teenagers take the headphones from their ears to shower their parents with compliments.
But kids today don't stop there. They are employing their high-tech savvy to wow their parents into fulfilling their Christmas wish lists.
Take 11-year-old Katie Johnsen of the District, who wants a virtual snowboarding game and a chocolate fondue fountain. She turned her list into a PowerPoint presentation with red and green backgrounds, a picture of Santa and links to the Web sites where the items can be bought.
"They are big operators," said Ellen Yui of Takoma Park, who has two sons. "They know how to work the system. They know how to work us big time."
This is the generation that has never known a world without the Internet. They rush home from school to talk to their friends online and flirt over text messages. They have mastered the latest communication technologies and added them to their holiday arsenal.
"Kids have figured out what to do to . . . get what they need and want. That's nothing new," said William Strauss, co-author of the forthcoming book "Millennials and Pop Culture." "What's different is kids' capabilities, the tools they have and what will work with their parents."
Yui's kids, 11-year-old Yoshi and 13-year-old Zen, changed the screensaver on her computer one Christmas to read "I love you" over and over again -- and end with a request for a video game.
This year, Zen wants a cell phone -- specifically, the sleek Sony Ericsson V600i. But it isn't sold in the United States yet, so anything that works will make him happy. He has dragged his father to a phone store "just to browse" and can recite all the features of his favorite phone by heart. It's the only item on his list -- testimony to his dedication -- and he has honed a powerful argument.
"Mom, I hate it when I come home [late] and you're disappointed because I hate making you mad," Zen said, reprising the line he gives to his parents. "And then I say, 'Can I have a cell phone?' "
Retailers work overtime during the holiday season to land one of the coveted spots on kids' wish lists. Stores depend on holiday sales for roughly 20 percent of their annual revenue. And the advertising industry has nicknamed the last eight weeks of each year the "hard eight" because of the intense competition.
Retailers have learned to tailor their marketing to kids' digital lives. The Web site for the popular teen clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch urges buyers: "Drop some major hints. Create a list, fill it with all your abercrombie wishes and we'll email it to everyone you tell us to." All parents have to do is point, click and buy.
AOL Instant Messenger -- the preferred communication tool for teens and tweeners -- recently introduced a feature called the ShoppingBuddy. It searches for products online, then lists competing prices and links where they can be bought.
"OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U," it says in response to queries. "Gimme a sec . . .."
Charlotte Sullivan, 11, of Chevy Chase types her wish list and e-mails it to friends so they can keep track of who is asking for what. For example, she's angling for a pink North Face fleece jacket -- not to be confused with the blue one that her friend Katie Johnsen wants or the pink half-zip Old Navy Performance Fleece jacket on her friend Jane Lindahl's list.
"Hey here's my x-mas list just fyi!! Wats urs? Bye! ttyl sys lyl!" 10-year-old Jane e-mailed to Charlotte. (Translation: "Talk to you later, see you soon, love ya lots!")
Charlotte has struggled to reconcile the idea of Santa's elves crafting toys with the pink mini iPod on her list -- which is clearly from Apple Computer Inc., not the North Pole. So she's decided to turn that one over to her parents and instead ask Old St. Nick for more traditional presents.
"Santa has to make his gifts," she said firmly.
The Internet functions as kids' virtual shopping mall. Jenny Winer, a 16-year-old from Colorado who was shopping at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City on Friday afternoon, said shopping online "takes away the embarrassment of walking around the mall with your parents for three hours showing them what you want."
She celebrates Hanukkah and said she has e-mailed relatives her list with links to specific CDs. Her friend, 16-year-old Erica Cahn, said she researches her Hanukkah presents online but has to handwrite a list for her mother.
"My mom is technologically retarded, so it doesn't work," she said.
Adults have ceded ground to kids when it comes to technology, said Rob Callender, trends director for Teenage Research Unlimited, a consulting firm.
"Increasingly, teens are considered the most techno-savvy members of the household," Callender said. "Parents have kind of thrown up their hands."
Yoshi and Zen said they once asked their grandmother for a GameBoy for Christmas. When she got to the store, she bought them a video game that was useless without the GameBoy.
"If you're not super specific, somehow, they'll get it wrong," Yoshi said.
Yui said she has only begun to sort through all of the models of cell phones available. After more than a year of lobbying by her son Zen, she has finally succumbed. He's getting a phone this Christmas.
"He can read about it in The Post," Yui said. "That's so Washington."
But sometimes even kids' most nuanced plea or compelling display of high-tech wizardry fails to persuade parents. That's when children return to their old standbys.
Seventeen-year-old Kelvina Marshall of Forestville has not had much luck persuading her mom to buy her a green Nextel cell phone. So she is trotting out the tried-and-true: Vowing to clean the kitchen at least once a month and promising to pull up her grades.
"Sometimes I say it so much, she doesn't believe," Kelvina said.
Yoshi says he can always fall back on what he calls "the boo-boo face": lip out, head down, puppy-dog eyes. No doubt about it, the kid looked adorable.
"Mom doesn't fall for that," Zen said.
"Yeah, she does, actually," Yoshi countered. Maybe Zen, nearly 14, had just lost the touch.
"You run out of boo-boo face power if you're too old," Yoshi said.
And therein lies what may be kids' most powerful tool of all.
Children grow up in a flash, and parents say they struggle to make every moment last. That's why Mary Sullivan is likely to cave in and buy her daughter yet another American Girl doll. She figures it's Charlotte's last doll before entering a world of makeup and boys. The gift is as much for her as it is for her daughter.
"Sometimes you get kids things because you're looking ahead. You're seeing that's it," Sullivan said. "Sometimes, it's the last gasp of childhood."
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