My son got Nikes so he doesn't get teased.

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨BigTrout75@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world⁩

He’s always wore sketchers. Like since he was 4. Recently, he got really emotionally taking about shoes he wanted for middle school. He said if he doesn’t get Nikes he’s going to get teased. Great fucking marketing work Nike.

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SkyezOpen@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Get him heelys so he can stunt on the haters.

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- Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Ngl this was my first thought. Or dig out a pair of those ol’ soap shoes and do a sick grind (practice first with both of these).
  
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Allemaniac@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
dont blame nike, blame the over-consumption introduced by unchecked capitalism. Comparing yourself to your surround has become the norm, leading to an increase in depression and, like you wrote, consuming too much. Americans on average buy 68 new clothing items PER YEAR, PER PERSON!! Maybe dont blame the kids, they are a product of their surrounding. Blame politics, and blame yourself if you have done too little politics in the last decades

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- porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Do blame Nike, and all the other corps, they are the ones who force capitalism on us, they are the cause of this behaviour, they control the politics.
  
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  - Allemaniac@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I get your point, but capitalism wasn’t always the norm. If you say corps control everything, it’s partially due to a faulty political system and a lack of interest in politics. And for that apathy, the citizens can absolutely be blamed. And again, if there wasn’t a superficial culture in the US where you HAVE to wear brands and drive european cars to not be ousted, there wouldnt be as much consumption. If you treat school like a cat walk, prepare to pay for designer clothes. The parent in the original post blames Nike for marketing. Yes, but if the kids around their kid weren’t pointing and laughing, this kid would feel very confortable to continue to wear sketchers. Kids are a product of their environment, bring them up in a ultra-capitalist environment and all they care about growing up is money and status. And it starts in school already. Group thinking is hugely problematic and not even thematized yet. This ousting because your parents can’t afford G-Star Raw is the only reason I would advocate for school uniforms. Something has to change but just pointing and assigning blame isn’t helping anyone and especially not the kid crying.
    
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- spankmonkey@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Nike is one of the worst offenders when it comes to unchecked capitalism.
  
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piyuv@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’ll tease my kids if they don’t wear Asics

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- IAmTheKernelError@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  You should go out of your way to ensure you always have replacement sneakers for them, and not a single pair should be Asics.
  
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  - piyuv@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Why not?
    
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Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
You’re a shit parent if you’re just going to give in.

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- Wazowski@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  You’re just a shit person.
  
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  - pleaaaaaze@lemmings.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    For not wanting kids to grow up as shallow marketing simps?
    
    Let me guess, you wear expensive shoes don’t ya
    
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  - Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    LOL your opinion means nothing
    
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- Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Bullying like that can be extremely traumatic for kids. Yeah it’s a shit situation, but I understand why they wouldn’t want to deal with it. kids are generally shitty people in middle school and use any excuse to bully each other. You basically have 3 choices 1) give in and get the thing, 2) let them get bullied for the rest of middle school, 3) harden them to the point where the other kids are fucking terrified of them.
  
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  - Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    As if parents and schools can’t intervene.
    Shouldn’t those 2 groups specificallybe trying to educate children to do better?
    
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- enbipanic@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  What’s the right move?
  
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  - Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Who knows if it’s true. Kids can lie/exaggerate when they want stuff.
    If it is true then wtf kind of school is this? I would go have a talk.
    What if some other parent couldn’t afford them? Will he let his kid join the mob mentality and bully him?
    This goes further than shoes.
    Just buying the stuff to get done with it and letting this toxic environment fester is def not the right move.
    But fuck it, I’m not raising his kid.
    
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- JigglySackles@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Why would they be a shit parent for doing something so simple? The shoes aren’t that much more expensive unless they are talking like some limited edition nonsense. They don’t need to go that far, but just getting some brand name thing to avoid bullying is an easy thing.
  
  Sounds like you’d be a shit parent if you had kids. “I can’t be arsed to help stop your getting bullied because it costs me a few dollars more.”
  
  Certainly there are other lessons to be had here about standing up for oneself and not letting peer pressure dictate your life, but spending a few dollars for brand name sneakers is not something to call people shit parents over.
  
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  - Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    jeez what a horribly disgusting comment.
    
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- Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Nah, you pick your battles. If the kid wants Nikes because that’s what everyone else has, then get him Nikes. I heard 10 years ago that Sketchers are for toddlers and old people… and from what I’ve seen that perception hasn’t changed.
  
  Like it or not, we are social animals and fitting in is important, especially for children. When my daughter was a toddler we made it a point to NOT expose her to Paw Patrol because it is just blatant targeted marketing to children. It was a point of pride for us to be able to walk past Paw Patrol branded apple sauce and not have her begging for it. And then we sent her to preschool and after the first week she came home sad that all the other kids were playing Paw Patrol but she didn’t know any of the characters, so she couldn’t play. That was a real shitty day for me as a parent because that was my failing. We started letting her watch Paw Patrol (as well as other non-PBS kids shows) because pop culture is important. Same with fashion… not every kid needs to wear Nike, but they should be aware of what the trends are and have a say in what they get.
  
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  - Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    IDC about your BS explnation.
    I despise people like you.
    You are a weak consumer slave keeping these horrible practices alive by being weak and giving in.
    I have no sympathy for your slave mentality.
    You should be ashamed.
    You are all that is wrong with the world.
    
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adaveinthelife@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Nike marketing aside, sketchers are child abuse.

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TabbsTheBat@pawb.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
At my school back when I was still in education it was all adidas :3

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BigTrout75@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I always thought they were old man shoes. LOL 🤣. I’m I the bully?

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- Psythik@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It’s okay I always hated Sketchers too. They were the shoe that you buy if you want to get bullied. Guess that’s still true today.
  
  Well I’m in late 30s and so I caved and finally bought a pair. Settled on their knockoff version of the Nike Flex and I couldn’t be more pleased. They’re just as comfortable as the real Flex. That said, part of me is still embarrassed to be wearing Sketchers. I wish the logo was easier to remove…
  
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bradorsomething@ttrpg.network ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Get him Hokas, tell him that’s what the rich actually wear.

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GoddessGundy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Man sketchers are awesome. I have a pair that I’ve re-bought consistently for years because they were the perfect fit, comfy, and were nondescript. Now they’ve discontinued them so I have to see if I can order them online.

I remember when I was kid though. We always had hands-down, goodwill, and k-mart clothes. But one of my Pop’s jobs was a janitor at the “rich” school district and he’d watch the lost and found box and wait for the shit he brought in to expire.

Once it was in the bin for more than a month it got “donated”. Half of that stuff went to the kids of the people that worked there. My brothers and I being some of them. So Pops scored me a pair of Air Nike when Jordan was at the height of his career.

Wouldn’t you know it? One dude on the play ground had to ask why I was wearing a Walmart T-shirt while wearing Nike shoes. Seriously, kids are fucking brutal.

I learned long before that that I was “poor” so I learned how to play it off and flipped the script. “Are you that superficial that you give a shit? It never even occurred to me to look at what you’re wearing but now that I am, all you are is a wigger” (slur for a wannabe in my era/location). He left me alone the rest of our school career.

I’m in my forties now but somewhere in my thirties he hit me up on Facebook and apologized for being a little shit. Turns out he had a bit of a crush on me and that’s how he showed it amongst other reasons. He was newly divorced when he reconnected with me so I had to turn him down (that the only reason you’re apologizing, dude?) but he was much nicer about everything this time.

Kids can be nasty but many of them grow up. Anytime you can stand up to adults in front of your kids it’s teaching them how to stand up to their own peers. Show them every example you can of how to handle what they’re dealing with. How you stand up to your family, friends, and peers, is how your kids learn how to do the same thing.

You can’t buy yourself out of bullying. Even rich kids get bullied. Confidence in yourself and empathy for others are a far better lesson to teach the next generation.

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jaschen306@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Same for iphone. Fuck Apple.

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BigTrout75@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I sort of want to do a stake out and bust out on the playground if he gets teased.

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- INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Phrasing!
  
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rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Eh, my dad wanted me to not be teased because of clothes or whatever. Except I saw through the bullshit and didn’t ask anything. So he basically forced me to wear the ugly shit he thought would look good. When all you can wear is ugly shit picked by your well-meaning parents, ya knaw.

“Demonstrative consumption” is the word. It hurt my social ties with those I’d want to talk to, but was ashamed of this, much more than fucking poverty probably would.

He had sort of a trauma from his own childhood, but that’s frankly no excuse because he didn’t even try to talk to me about this. I’d tell him it’s a school half-stacked with children of thieves (aka government workers, it’s not USA so I won’t take any bullshit about “hard-working administrators”, a different part of the world), so, first, I’d prefer to have clear cultural separation from them, second, I didn’t want to be there. The dumb fat pig moron wouldn’t listen, he thought me complaining is the problem so he should find some way for me to waste my resistance energy.

Well, those little jerks played a prank on him, which I did try to prevent, but as you’ve probably guessed, he thought my resistance to his good wise decisions to be the main threat, so they succeeded. He tried to blame it on me later. I do feel bad for him, but he deserved every bit.

OK, so much for memories.

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BigTrout75@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Yeah, I agree! Sadly the days of fighting back are over. I have faith he can scrap is needed

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CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Time to find a good counterfeit.

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BigTrout75@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Nice

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WrenFeathers@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Congrats, there’s a good chance you just bought into being part of the problem. Your son is probably now a card-carrying member of the group that teases other kids for being less than.

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greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
One of my good runner friends (3000+ miles a year and owns 100+ pairs of shoes) is the biggest sketchers fans I know of. Apparently their good running shoes aren’t even cheap anymore, like $110+.

I imagine these kids aren’t wearing super shoes anyway, or else they would know the puma’s are faster

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- TheCleric@lemmy.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I think that says more about inflation than Skechers. Even cheap shoes are expensive now.
  
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BigTrout75@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Kids being kids I guess

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DancingBear@midwest.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Look up cost of living back during the time you are thinking about and what the money used to be worth back then I guess

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Etterra@discuss.online ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I blame the parents and schools for not doing anything about bullies and teasing. I was in the trenches as a kid, I remember all the Jack Shit they did back then.

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BigTrout75@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Yeah, working on it

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