Video -- Kids + Money on HBO, Sit Your Kids Down in Front of THIS!

Just in time for the holidays in this horrible time for all of us financially.

Mary McNamara in the LA Times:

As tempting as it is to feel smug while watching "Kids + Money" -- What is that mother thinking? What's wrong with kids today? -- these children are only spitting out the words we've put in their mouths. If Wall Street wizards can crash the economy by overspending, if thousands of adults can buy houses they couldn't afford, why shouldn't little Megan expect to get a paraffin dip every week? Why shouldn't Emmanuel think it is totally unfair that although he gets to go to posh Harvard-Westlake, he isn't as rich as his friends?

From the HBO page for the documentary, which airs tonight at 10 eastern (you can DVR it for the kids):

This 30-minute documentary short is an illuminating portrait of several young people in Los Angeles and the complex and intricate role that money plays in their lives. Ranging in age from 11 to 17, and spanning several socio-economic levels, thirteen kids (and a few of their parents) are interviewed in their homes, and discuss everything from their shopping habits and addictions, the importance of clothes and fitting-in at school, getting money from parents versus making their own money, and the overwhelming pressures of consumerism and image in LA.

A decade ago, photographer Lauren Greenfield's monograph, "Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood," explored the way Los Angeles youth are affected by an overwhelming materialism that exalts image. One of the photographs from Fast Forward depicted Phoebe, a three-year old, lying on a couch in the Barneys shoe department. Now 16, Phoebe makes a return appearance in Kids + Money, newly sensitive to the adverse effects of affluence.

Only 30 minutes. You should be able to get your kids to sit through it. Of course, you could bribe them to, but that's kind of antithetical to the program.

Clip after the jump.

LINK