Try these tips for combating 'affluenza'
12/2/2002 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. NOTE: This is a sidebar to UMNS story #557. By Julie K. Buzbee* Got a bad case of "affluenza" and you don't know what to do? Here's a prescription.
· Give to others whose needs are greater than yours.
· Limit television.
· Read old-fashioned Christmas stories aloud with your family.
· Read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas eve or at another time during Advent -- Luke 2:1-20 and Matthew 2:1-12.
· Stay aware of suffering in the world.
· Join a church that shares these values.
· Plan ahead.
· Learn about the real St. Nicholas.
· Make a nice dinner and deliver it.
· Give your spouse a coupon for a massage.
· Take an elderly friend or relative to lunch.
· Take a child for a day of in-line skating, sledding, swimming or visiting the zoo.
· Avoid debt.
· Avoid stress.
· Draw names for Christmas gifts.
· Give children one thing they really want.
· Give appropriate gifts and alternative gifts, such as donations to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, (800) 841-1235.
· Give coupon books for things such as your housecleaning or a car oil change.
· Celebrate Advent for four weeks with the booklet Whose Birthday Is It Anyway? from Alternatives for Simple Living.
· Put the gifts under the tree shortly before opening them. Open one gift at a time.
· Make changes slowly but persistently.
· Make gift-card donations to programs like the Society of St. Andrew hunger ministry, (800) 333-4597.
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*Buzbee is a journalist residing in St. Joseph, Mo.
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