Teaching Appreciation

This day in age it is becoming increasingly hard to teach your children appreciation for the things that they have. I mean everyday they are blasted with commercials that teach them to want more, more, more. So what can we do to stop this desire to want more?

I know they have a t.v. show that sends teenagers to shock them into appreciation, but what about preventative measures so that our kids (mainly MY kids, yours are probably well behaved, appreciative wonderful children) don't turn into those bratty teenagers that you just want to slap upside the head (only second to the 2 by 4 that I want to whack the teenagers who want a baby so someone can love them)? I am all for a boot camp that sends our kids to third world countries where they have to work to find food and fresh water and there are no t.v.s, toys and beds. Yep I would totally pay for that summer camp!

Somewhere between heaven and childbirth my children lost their child rearing manual (leave it to my kids to lose something so important). I remember being pregnant for the first time and talking about all the wonderful things I was going to teach my child. How he was going to grow up being thoughtful and respectful and trustworthy (wow I wonder what hallucinogens I was taking). Somewhere I lost that perspective or maybe I gained a more realistic perspective. Well I am fighting again modernization now so how can I fix the damage of the modern world (short of becoming Amish)? I think its time to start searching for that manual....