I'm pretty sure my kids' respect is not contingent on what I do on one day of the year; even at their young ages, their reasoning skills are a little better than that.
No, but a friend of mine is doing that very thing. He was sitting in his chair shivering for 12 hours yesterday, so I brought him 2 thermos of coffee after Thanksgiving dinner. He's planning to save $400.
They might just as well respect me, and my political views because I don't bother with their gadgets, having gifted from 8 tracks to DVD to iPod this and that, I just don't care anymore.
My kids are grown, and they do well, and they usually respect me, and they pretty much share my political feelings. Makes it lots easier at the dinner table.
I don't have kids. But if I did, there's no way I would stand in line for hours just to fight another parent for a stupid toy. If I can't just buy it online, my kids aren't getting it. I do have 2 cats. They are getting a super cool 7' high cat tree that I ordered on Amazon.com. They will play in it, scratch it and sleep in it everyday. Cats are so much cooler than kids.